Last week, the Illinois General Assembly voted to override Gov. Rauner’s (R) income tax hike veto in both the Senate and the House.
This economically devastating legislation would have been impossible to pass without the help of Republican Sen. Dale Righter and 10 Republicans in the House: Andersson, Bryant, Fortner, Hammond, D. Harris, Hays, Jimenez, B. Mitchell, Phillips, Unes.
TUA’s executive director, Jared Labell, spoke out against this most recent plundering of Illinois taxpayers in the Chicago Sun-Times, under the ominous headline “Illinois moves into the top 20 personal income tax states.”
“Jared Labell, executive director of Taxpayers United of America, compared fixing the state’s financial problems, as well as the impact the income tax hike could have, to a game of “Jenga.” The game of stacked pieces relies on a sound infrastructure to keep from toppling – which is not unlike a state government, he said.
“The tax increase isn’t a solution to (the state’s financial problems).””
Read the article here.
This past Sunday, Jim Tobin, TUA’s founder and president, attended Bob Redfern’s Illinois Forum meeting in Champaign, IL.
While addressing the attendees, Tobin denounced the newly passed 32% income tax hike and the $5 billion in tax dollars to be siphoned away from hardworking Illinoisans for the benefit of the politicians, bureaucrats, and retired government employees collecting millions of your tax dollars to fund their lavish government pensions.
Tobin’s complete remarks can be viewed here.
The state income tax increase was pushed through the legislature against the wishes of a majority of Illinoisans, activist groups, and our best efforts, along with other fellow organizations.
One thing is clear: if this is Springfield’s solution, the financial climate in Illinois will never recover.
When the Illinois General Assembly reconvenes in January 2018, we will be prepared to offer our own legislation to make sure that more of your hard-earned money remains in your pocket, and not in the hands of the spendthrift politicians in Springfield.
Jared Labell | Executive Director
312 427-5128 | 773 766-4947
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 7, 2017
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CHICAGO—With the help of Republican Sen. Dale Righter (Mattoon-55), the Illinois Senate voted 36-19 to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s (R) budget veto on Independence Day.
Two days later, led by longtime Democratic Speaker and Chicago machine boss Michael J. Madigan (Chicago-22), and including 10 Republicans, members of the Illinois House voted 71-42 to override Gov. Rauner’s veto too.
Together, the Illinois General Assembly enacted the largest permanent income tax hike in the state’s history, raising the personal income tax rate to 4.95 percent from 3.75 percent, and hiking the corporate income tax rate from 7.75 percent to 9.5 percent, which includes the often-overlooked personal property replacement income tax surcharge of 2.5 percent.
“The Illinois General Assembly should really be ashamed,” said Jared Labell, executive director of Taxpayers United of America.
“We know how these tax hikes turn out for taxpayers. We’ve seen this one before. The temporary income tax increase in 2011 brought in more than $32 billion in tax revenue, but did nothing to address the state’s growing unpaid bill backlog and rapidly increasing government pension liabilities, now totaling more than $250 billion according to Moody’s,” said Labell.
“Springfield plans to collect an estimated $5 billion in additional state income tax dollars from hard-working Illinoisans, retroactive to July 1. But taxpayers did not get comprehensive pension reform, property tax cuts, or property tax freezes after two years of uncontrolled spending, $15 billion in unpaid bills, and two years of political maneuvering between the legislators and governor.”
“When was the last time you thought putting vast sums of money in the hands of politicians would be a promising idea?” asked Labell.
“This budget deal is no solution to the longstanding problem of decades of financial mismanagement by the state government. Illinoisans – our friends, our families, our neighbors – have suffered enough. We can do better.”
Labell said there are few solutions Illinois taxpayers should pursue before leaving the state.
“Hiring new government employees under defined contribution 401(k)-style pension plans, rather than lavish defined benefit plans, would help the situation going forward, but Illinois is still facing a quarter-trillion dollars in unfunded government pension liabilities. Taxpayers need a constitutional amendment on the November 2018 ballot to repeal the pension-protection clause of the Illinois State Constitution. It creates a two-tiered system in Illinois that is unsustainable and divides residents into two political classes: government employees and non-government employees,” said Labell.
“Until taxpayers can divert their tax dollars to directly fund whatever services they wish and no more, the legislators in Springfield will continue to engage in generational legal plunder with devastating income and property tax hikes.”
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CHICAGO—The president of Illinois’ largest taxpayer organization today urged Gov. Bruce Rauner to reject the proposals of Springfield Democrats and Republicans that would devastate the state’s economy with new, back-breaking tax increases.
“The Democrat and Republican tax-increase proposals are a scam,” said Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America (TUA). Gov. Rauner states the proposals include spending reductions, limits on expenses, debt reduction, and term limits.”
“The last time the state personal income tax was raised, almost all of the additional money went into the floundering, underfunded state pension funds for retired government employees. Illinois taxpayers in the private sector saw no significant benefit from this tax increase.”
“Gov. Rauner is allowing himself to be hornswaggled by machine boss and House Speaker, Michael Madigan, and by Senate President, John J. Cullerton.”
“The Democrat proposals would permanently raise the state personal income tax by 32 percent, from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent. The Republican plan isn’t much better. Under the GOP plan, the income tax increase would expire after four years. The four-year expiration date would coincide with a four-year property tax freeze. The income tax hike also would not be retroactive to Jan. 1.”
“Both plans offer virtually no real reforms. The state is effectively bankrupt, and is hemorrhaging taxpayers to states with lower taxes.”
“Illinois has a backlog of unpaid bills exceeding $15 billion, and its unfunded government-employee pension obligations are more than $130 billion. Illinois is beyond the point of no return in that it cannot tax itself out of this mess. The state eventually must bite the bullet and declare bankruptcy, or pass a state constitutional amendment allowing reductions in the lavish, gold-plated pensions being enjoyed by retired government employees—or both.”
“Illinois taxpayers have had it with tax increases.”
Contact: 773-354-2076 or 715-526-2638
