The Land of Lincoln received the lowest possible grade in budget forecasting and legacy costs.

If aggrieved taxpayers don’t also demand fixes to underlying spending problems, calls for additional tax hikes will return. And they’ll be stronger than ever.

Like the “grand bargain,” the Brady plan and the Illinois Senate Democrats’ budget before it, the Illinois House Democrats’ plan relies on more than $5 billion in new tax revenues because it includes no significant structural spending reforms.

Illinois’ fiscal collapse is the culmination of decades of budget gimmicks and taxes used to paper over the state’s structural spending problems and misplaced priorities that favor special interests over ordinary Illinoisans.

The budget plan proposed by Republican General Assembly members would raise taxes by over $5 billion without enacting any significant spending reforms.

Moody’s Investors Service cited Illinois’ $250 billion in pension debt and the lengthy budget impasse as reasons for its one-notch credit downgrade.

S&P cited Illinois lawmakers’ failure to pass a budget and the lengthy budget impasse as reasons for its one-notch credit downgrade. Over the years, Illinois’ state credit rating has been downgraded multiple times due to massive spending and excessive borrowing.

Illinois’ budgetary mess preceded Gov. Bruce Rauner’s tenure, with years of gimmicks, borrowing and broken promises.