Personal tax relief is still missing

by Kristina Rasmussen From the sounds of it, House leaders are planning another go on the “tax relief” deal and break it up  into two amendments. One for the business measures, and one for the personal measures. My dissatisfaction with Democrats’ previous attempts to offer tax relief to individuals and family is no secret (get my take from...

by Kristina Rasmussen

From the sounds of it, House leaders are planning another go on the “tax relief” deal and break it up  into two amendments. One for the business measures, and one for the personal measures.

My dissatisfaction with Democrats’ previous attempts to offer tax relief to individuals and family is no secret (get my take from this interview with ABC-7’s Charles Thomas). That package, by the way, went down in the House on a vote of 8 to 99.

So let’s take a look at what’s on tap for Monday on the individual taxpayer side of things…

House Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 400 would provide a couple with two children earning $50,000 in household income:

• $0 tax relief in 2012
• $10 tax relief in 2013

Meanwhile, the income tax hike is costing that family:

• $840 in higher taxes in 2012
• $840 in higher taxes in 2013

Do the math: $1,680 in higher income taxes over the next two years vs. $10 in tax relief. This is not a fair deal for Illinois families.

House Amendment 2 also doubles the earned income tax credit, or EITC, a deeply flawed provision that often discourages work. Additionally, a higher EITC will pave the way for additional income rate hikes by eroding Illinois’s flat tax structure.

There isn’t much in this amendment for proponents of free markets to get excited about. We deserve better.