A typical Chicago homeowner faces up to $255 in potential property tax increases to cover city and school deficits. City income taxes could be next, if the ‘fair tax’ were to pass.

If the Illinois Constitution is amended to allow different income tax rates, expect cities to try to impose their own income taxes.

Lawmakers scrapped any requirement that the progressive income tax be ‘fair,’ giving Springfield a blank check when it comes to taxing income.

The political cost for raising taxes is exactly why the constitution’s authors created a flat tax protection. About 30% of the lawmakers from the 100th Illinois General Assembly were gone after passing the 2017 income tax hike.

Decades of institutionalized financial mismanagement left Illinois with the nation’s worst fiscal health. Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan has been at the center of nearly every bad decision along the way.