Governor Quinn proposes turning what was sold as a temporary, tax hike into a permanent one during his 2015 budget address on Wednesday.
The governor called for keeping the personal income tax rate at five percent.
“This comprehensive tax reform plan would maintain current income tax rates allowing us to balance the budget, properly invest in education, and provide every Illinois homeowner with a guaranteed, 500 dollar property tax refund every year.”
Quinn signed the increase from three to five percent back in January 2011. That’s a 67 percent rise. It was supposed to expire next year.
Republican State Representative and candidate for State Treasurer Tom Cross says Quinn has broken his word to taxpayers. Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn today proposed making permanent the temporary income tax increase he signed into law three years ago, fully framing the debate over his fall re-election bid against Republican Bruce Rauner who wants the tax hike rolled back.
Delivering his budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1, Quinn sought to offer some sweeteners for keeping the tax increase—including a doubling of the tax credit for lower-income workers and offering a flat $500 property tax rebate to benefit homeowners.
"As a result of our hard work to restore fiscal stability -- from spending reductions to pension reform to contract savings -- Illinois is in a much stronger financial position than it was five years ago," said Quinn, who took over from impeached and imprisoned Rod Blagojevich in 2009. While the temporary tax boost he signed in 2011 was pitched as a way to pay the state's overdue bills, Quinn framed the permanent extension of the tax increase as an education issue in his speech to lawmakers gathered in the House chamber in Springfield.
"The issue of expiring revenue this year is a real challenge that will require another hard choice," Quinn said. Without the higher income tax, he said, the state will face "extreme cuts...that will starve ou schools."
Quinn said by keeping the income tax increase, "we can stabilize the budget for the long-term, in a way that provides targeted tax relief where it’s needed most: to homeowners and working families raising kids."
But in calling for keeping the tax increase permanent, Quinn played into pre-speech attacks by Rauner, a Winnetka venture capitalist, whose campaign had labeled the Democratic governor’s tenure as a litany of broken promises.
Rauner backs the scheduled January rollback of the personal income tax to 3.75 percent from the current 5 percent. Rauner, however, has not been specific about how he would make up for the estimated $4 billion in lost revenue with the rollback of the tax.
Regardless of Quinn’s speech, the reality of a political year in which the entire Illinois House and one-third of the state Senate are up for election makes it highly questionable whether ruling Democrats will take a vote on extending the tax hike before the Nov. 4 general election. Leaders who oversee hefty Democratic majorities in the General Assembly will draft their own version of a spending plan for the state for a budget year that extends into the first six months of the state’s next governor.
Still, House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said he supported Quinn’s call for making the income tax permanent and expected a vote on it well before the election.
"Well that's why I commend the governor for his political courage and honesty, and unlike previous governors who ...didn't live up to the problems of financing this state, Governor Quinn has come in here today, and he's just, as he said, he told the truth,” Madigan said during an interview with Illinois Public Television. “He laid the cards on the table. If we wish to continue to provide the level of services which we've become accustomed to for education and other purposes then the income tax increase should be extended."
Asked when lawmakers might vote on the tax increase, Madigan said, "My expectation is that we'll resolve this before the end of the spring session, which is the end of May."
State Sen. President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, issued a statement supporting making the tax hike permanent, without saying when a vote should happen.
"Voting to maintain our current tax rate is a responsible action that keeps Illinois’ income taxes among the lowest in the nation. It will allow us to honor our obligations, preserve education funding and secure our financial future for generations to come," Cullerton said.
Quinn appeared to acknowledge the political issues surrounding his speech, though not mentioning Rauner by name. The Republican has called for a comprehensive restructuring of the state’s tax system though, without specifics.
Quinn, however, said he was rejecting "any new, unfair taxes," such as broadening the state’s sales tax to include services, or taxing retirement income. Illinois is one of three states that do not tax retirement income.
The Democrat chief executive sought to position his move to keep the income tax as akin to efforts by former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar, who had advocated a shift in funding local grade and high schools toward the income tax while reducing local property tax burdens.
"For too long, Illinois has underfunded its schools and overburdened its property taxpayers,"Quinn said.
The governor’s plan also calls for spending $100 million next year on early childhood programs for children from birth to age 5, as well as adding $50 million to a monetary assistance program for college students in Illinois.
Quinn was also expected to direct more money toward paying down state government's multibillion-dollar backlog of old bills, a longtime nagging problem cited by proponents as one of the main reasons to support the income tax hike. The tax increase was passed during the post-election lame-duck session of the General Assembly in January 2011 entirely on the strength of Democratic votes.
The governor laid out his proposals as part of what he called a comprehensive five-year financial plan and warned that without action "to stabilize our revenue code, extreme and radical cuts will be imposed on education and critical public services -- cuts that will starve our schools and result in mass teacher layoffs, larger class sizes and higher property taxes."
Quinn’s warning was echoed even before he delivered his speech in the ornate House chamber by his political campaign. The Quinn camp said Rauner’s push to have the income tax roll back on schedule "would decimate education funding."
“The truth is, those who are telling you that Illinois can tax less and spend less and still expect to fund education are simply not telling you the truth,” Quinn said in a pointed reference to Rauner, who has sought to appeal to voters as a long-time education advocate.
“Today, I propose that we take the path that is honest and responsible, the path that protects everyday families and invests in their future,” he said.
Rauner, a wealthy first-time office-seeker who spent much of the recently concluded Republican primary campaign attacking Quinn rather than his GOP rivals, called the Democratic governor’s push to make the income tax increase permanent Quinn’s “ultimate broken promise.”
“After five years of Pat Quinn’s failed leadership, we have record tax hikes, outrageously high unemployment, massive cuts in education, and there’s still a giant budget mess in Springfield,” Rauner said in a statement today. “It’s now or never to save Illinois. We can balance the budget without more tax increases, if we create a growth economy, and restructure and reform our broken government.”
Republican Rep. Patti Bellock of Hinsdale, among the leaders of the opposition to the temporary tax hike, said Quinn’s plan undercuts the “No. 1 issue” of restoring the state’s economy and luring businesses.
“And I think the people of Illinois were assured (by Democrats) when that was put in that it would be taken out,” Bellock said. “And I think we need to be responsible to the people of Illinois to roll back that…. They were reassured that it was going to go away.”
Bellock said the lawmakers will have to work to hold spending to within the amount of money that would be generated with the lower income tax rate due to take effect Jan. 1. “I definitely think that there’s more money in this budget” than what Quinn portrays, Bellock said.
She called budget negotiations a “challenge” but that she expected House lawmakers working on social issue to act in a bipartisan manner.
Sen. Heather Steans, a Chicago Democrat who chairs an appropriations committee, called for a vote in the spring session to keep the income tax increase.
“It’s encouraging that Gov. Quinn is investing in education and services to protect the neediest,” Steans said. “It’s not easy to be talking about maintaining revenues in an election cycle. I think there is honor in being honest about what we need to do.”
As he exited the House chamber, Quinn was asked if he hoped to pass his plans this spring and replied “Of course.”
Asked how, Quinn said: "Hope for the best and work for it."
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