QUOTE OF THE DAY
Chicago Tribune: Illinois graduated income tax push stalls out
The Democratic push to impose a graduated income tax rate in Illinois fizzled on Tuesday, refocusing the debate on whether the state’s temporary income tax hike should be made permanent.
Democratic Sen. Don Harmon had vowed to call the measure for a vote despite warnings from Speaker Michael Madigan last week that there wasn’t enough support in the House.
After spending Tuesday trying and failing to collect the votes, Harmon conceded the measure would have to wait for another year.
Chicago Tribune: Prosecutors probing troubled Quinn grant program
Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez has launched a probe of a troubled $55 million anti-violence program Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn put in place in 2010 amid a tough election battle.
A grand jury issued a subpoena seeking documents related to the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative Program, which funneled money to various community groups in what Quinn billed as an effort to target crime in some of Chicago’s most dangerous neighborhoods.
Republican critics contend the program was a slush fund designed to shore up support for Quinn in heavily Democratic Cook County, while a recent scathing state audit found the initiative was “hastily implemented” and failed to track how taxpayer dollars were spent.
Forbes: Push For Progressive Income Taxes Picks Up In The Blue States
As opposed to Capitol Hill, where there is gridlock amid a divided federal government, most states around the country are under unified political control, with Republicans running the governor’s mansion and both chambers of the legislature in 24 states, while the Democrats do likewise in 13 states. As the halfway point of 2014 approaches, the two parties continue to take the states where they have unified partisan control in diametrically opposite directions from a policy standpoint.
In Democrat-run Illinois, whose state legislature is the place where President Obama learned the political ropes, liberal fiscal policy and its effects are on full display. Gov. Pat Quinn (D) signed into law massive “temporary” tax increases – a 66 percent individual income tax hike and 23 percent hike in the corporate rate – upon taking office in 2011. Gov. Quinn is now determined to prevent those tax increases from expiring later this year. However, in just the last few months, there have been a procession of additional tax increases proposed in the Land of Lincoln.
Northwest Herald: Last push being made for constitutional amendments
Illinois lawmakers have put two questions on the November ballot to amend the state Constitution to increase the rights of voters and crime victims.
Two advocacy groups say they have more than enough signatures to put two more proposed amendments on the ballot to decrease the powers of state lawmakers through term limits and redistricting reform.
The shortest proposed amendment is one sentence long. The largest weighs in at 1,500 words, or more than one-third the size of the U.S. Constitution.
Chicago Sun Times: Gov. Quinn: Obama library would need public-private money
Gov. Pat Quinn said today any public money for a President Obama library in Illinois would necessitate “very extensive private funding.”
Quinn indicated that funding for an Obama library would have to go under a future capital bill.
At a news availability today following his remarks before the City Club of Chicago of Chicago, Quinn was asked if Illinois could afford a $100 million bond issue to help fund a proposed Obama presidential library. Quinn didn’t directly speak to the amount of money that Illinois could afford.
Belleville News-Democrat: State Senate misses deadline: Progressive tax won’t be on ballot
The Illinois Senate missed a deadline Tuesday for replacing the state’s flat income-tax rate with a progressive tax that would have charged a higher rate for higher incomes.
Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, had planned to call for a vote on a measure which would have started the process of holding a statewide referendum in November on changing the tax structure. The Senate needed to vote by Tuesday to put the measure on the ballot. The measure also would have needed passage in the House.
Harmon had said there were enough votes in the Senate for passage, but perhaps not in the House. And some Senate Democrats didn’t want to give their support to a tax increase without some assurance that the House would do the same.
Bond Buyer: Illinois Governor Floats Income Tax Aid Hike For Locals
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn raised the idea of sharing more state income tax revenue with local governments to help them stabilize their local pension systems without hitting homeowners too hard on their property tax bills.
CARTOON OF THE DAY
