State lawmakers built Illinois’ record $55.2 billion budget for 2026 on gimmicks, one-time fixes and piecemeal tax hikes. They left pension debt, transit cliffs and real reform for another day.

Illinois lawmakers got creative with state budget proposals to overhaul pensions and raise new revenue, many of which would have hit consumers and small businesses hardest. They also failed to intrude on how families choose to educate their children.

With the Illinois state legislative session ended, bills will start crossing the governor’s desk, some containing tax hikes, unaffordable spending and needless regulation. Here’s how Gov. J.B. Pritzker can stop these bad policies from becoming law.

Illinois state lawmakers’ spending plan surpasses last year’s budget by $2 billion, requiring taxpayers to pay over $800 million in additional costs for yet another year of record spending.

Adding sales taxes to services is limited in the U.S., with 46 states not generally taxing services. Illinois may break from the pack and start adding sales taxes to haircuts, lawn care, car repair and a long list of other service expected to cost $2.7 billion.

Illinois state lawmakers must be super speed readers, because who would vote on something they hadn’t read? They were given an average of 67 seconds per page to read the past nine state budgets, but last year received only 26 seconds per page.

Illinois lawmakers are looking to expand sales taxes to include things such as streaming services, gym memberships, vehicle repairs, hair care and other services to bail out Chicago’s failing transit systems and put more money in government budgets.