Selling family farmland to pay Illinois’ estate tax could end if a pair of bills take root in the General Assembly.

Illinois is one of just a handful of states that double-taxes people when they die by imposing its own estate tax atop the federal tax. A bill that would repeal Illinois’ estate tax could save family farms.

Amazon pulled its HQ2 out of New York City, so Chicago is considering imposing a “robot tax” on companies looking to automate their way around high labor costs.

An amendment to scrap Illinois’ constitutional flat tax protection is gaining sponsors in the Illinois Senate. Lawmakers have refused to discuss rates since those details killed the last progressive tax attempt.

Mandating more reasonable spending growth is the first step in a journey back to solvency for Illinois. The cap provides certainty today for a more responsible state government tomorrow.

Even after a 32 percent income tax hike, the Illinois General Assembly passed a state budget in 2017 that will generate an estimated $1.5 billion deficit in fiscal year 2018. That deficit is projected to grow to $2.15 billion in fiscal year 2019, according to the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, or GOMB. The...