Quinn, Democrats roll out more tax-and-spend legislative initiatives

Just hours after the 2014 gubernatorial primary results were made final, Gov. Pat Quinn and his allies launched a series of class warfare attack ads, which were aimed at playing politics rather than implementing good policy. His administration took no time following suit, unleashing a series of legislative initiatives that, if enacted, would have a...

Just hours after the 2014 gubernatorial primary results were made final, Gov. Pat Quinn and his allies launched a series of class warfare attack ads, which were aimed at playing politics rather than implementing good policy. His administration took no time following suit, unleashing a series of legislative initiatives that, if enacted, would have a detrimental fiscal impact on the state of Illinois and its residents of all incomes.

Last Thursday, a bill that would increase the minimum wage to $10.65 per hour from $8.25 by 2016 passed out of committee on a party-line vote. Illinois already has the second-worst jobless rate in the nation; the unintended consequence of increasing the cost of hiring is cutting back on hiring. That same afternoon, House Speaker Michael Madigan unveiled a plan to impose a 3 percent “surcharge” tax hike on millionaires and small businesses. The measure is estimated to bring in roughly $1.3 billion in new revenue, provided these individuals do not flee the state.

So it didn’t come as a surprise when Quinn revealed his intention to make the 2011 temporary tax hike permanent while delivering his annual budget address before the Illinois General Assembly in Springfield on Wednesday. When Quinn decided to hike taxes on working Illinoisans by a historic 67 percent, he promised that the increase would be temporary. In fact, the state income tax is scheduled to begin to sunset – from 5 percent to 3.75 percent – on Jan. 1, 2015. Quinn’s choice to go back on his word is a 33 percent percent tax hike on every Illinoisan.

And that’s not all the bad news to come out of Springfield recently.

The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability released its financial review of that “historic” and “comprehensive pension reform” package Quinn touted throughout his speech. As the Illinois Policy Institute predicted back in December 2013, the actual savings from the bill is $23 billion less than what was promised by its proponents. Furthermore, the COGFA analysis shows that only 6.4 percent of the projected savings will occur over the next decade. The pension reform legislation exemplifies the political status quo in Illinois: politicians pass legislation without a comprehensive review and find out the actual impact on families months later.

These policies are politically motivated, plain and simple. This legislative session has become more about maintaining the tax-and-spend Democrats’ supermajority control than it is about what it should be: enacting policies that will get Illinois on sound financial footing.