MEDIA CONTACT: Diana Rickert (312) 607-4977

SPRINGFIELD (June 28, 2017) – If Illinois lawmakers don’t agree on a spending plan before June 30, the state will enter its third year without a state budget. Both Democrats and Republicans blame the impasse for Illinois’ deteriorating fiscal condition, but a new analysis from the nonpartisan Illinois Policy Institute points out that Illinois has been on the path to financial ruin for decades.

The report is available here: http://illin.is/budgetcrisis

“Lawmakers want Illinoisans to believe that the key to solving the state’s many problems is to pass a budget that includes a multi-billion dollar tax increase. But not only do Illinoisans overwhelmingly oppose another tax increase, our research finds that higher taxes without dramatic spending reform will only perpetuate the state’s crisis,” said Ted Dabrowski, vice president of policy at the Illinois Policy Institute. “History shows that every time lawmakers have borrowed money or temporarily raised taxes, the state’s fiscal problems did not improve – they worsened.”

Politicians have used all sorts of loopholes to “balance” the budget, but Illinois hasn’t truly balanced its budget since 2001, the report found. Financial gimmicks such as shifting funds and pushing off unpaid bills to the fiscal next year have been used to get around the state constitution’s balanced budget requirement.

The report also found the following:

• Illinois is on the verge of a credit rating downgrade to “junk” status. But Illinois did not have positive credit ratings before the budget impasse; the state’s credit rating was downgraded a total of 13 times from 2009 to 2014. By 2010, Illinois already had the worst credit rating in the nation.
• When lawmakers raised the state income tax from 2011 through 2014, the financial situation worsened. During the time the tax increase was in effect, Illinois’ credit was downgraded five times, and pension debt grew by more than $20 billion.
• Former Gov. Pat Quinn borrowed billions of dollars to make the state’s required pension payments in 2010 and 2011, pushing the burden onto future taxpayers.
• Politicians have borrowed, taxed and otherwise delayed paying down the state’s debt since 1994, when former Gov. Jim Edgar created the pension funding “ramp.”

“Tax hikes allow politicians to avoid passing the spending reforms Illinois so desperately needs,” Dabrowski said. “History tells us that if lawmakers continue to raise taxes and grow state spending, Illinois will be back in a crisis in no time.”

To read the full report, visit: http://illin.is/budgetcrisis