Delivered on Jan. 25, 2017.

The status quo isn’t working for Illinois; the state needs serious reforms to get its spending under control, pay down its debt, and rein in the taxes that are driving its people across state lines.

In addition to raising the state’s personal and corporate income taxes back near their all-time highs, senators are proposing taxing businesses on the “privilege” of doing business in Illinois, as well as taxing several services.

The Illinois Senate budget proposal merely puts off the state’s day of reckoning through more of the same: tax hikes, borrowing and spending, without the necessary reforms to put the state on a path to fiscal and economic health.

The Illinois Senate’s proposed budget plan would raise the personal income tax rate to at least 4.95 percent with no real reforms to address the state’s skyrocketing debt and unsustainable spending. This proposal comes despite Illinois’ loss of $14 billion in annual income and hundreds of thousands of people in the wake of the 2011 income tax hike.