Multiple members of the governor’s inner circle have publicly backed retirement taxes, even though Pritzker now denies he will use his “fair tax” on the state’s seniors.

Taxing retirement income is not a new idea to Illinois politicians, but denying they want to tax seniors is new since that part of the “fair tax” plan slipped out.

Passing the progressive tax would empower state lawmakers to go after seniors’ retirement income.

Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs said a progressive state income tax will open the door to taxing retirement income.

The years 2010 through 2019 will go down in Illinois history as a decade of public policy failure and economic decline. High fixed costs for pensions and government worker health care have prevented the state from balancing its budget in any year since 2001. Since the Great Recession in 2008, the state’s fiscal imbalance has...