A New Way on State Financing:

We Can be Fiscally Responsible and Fair

I support a budget which achieves long-term school funding, preserves revenue for essential human services, and addresses Illinois’ under funded pension system by implementing comprehensive tax reform.

We all know that Illinois faces a crippling fiscal crisis – we are now billions of dollars in debt. For too long, too many of our legislators in Springfield have postponed hard assessments and papered over budget shortfalls. We must demand an end to this culture of impasse and irresponsibility and forge a new way – a way that is responsible, responsive and fair – to manage the State’s budget.

We all expect certain fundamentals from our government: our children should be educated; public safety must be ensured; those in need should have access to essential human services, like health care. But our current course guarantees that many of these basic obligations will go unmet for thousands of Illinois residents. The 2010 operating budget, recently vetoed by Governor Quinn, would have substantially reduced state funding for vital public services, and it would have done nothing to address the State’s long-standing structural deficit, which causes us to confront budget crises year after year. These cruel cuts cannot stand, and we must find fairer ways to ensure adequate revenues.

Currently, Illinois imposes the greatest tax burden on middle and low-income taxpayers, who constitute the bottom 60% of all the state's income earners. Illinois’ flat income tax and outdated sales tax have created an overly regressive tax infrastructure in our state. Legislation, originally introduced by Senator Meeks and eventually passed by the Illinois Senate, would significantly address the state's structural deficit and regressive tax system. The proposal calls for an increase in the state’s personal income tax from 3% to 5% and the corporate income tax from 4.8% to 5% - generating $5 billion in net revenue without imposing a greater tax burden on low and middle income families; the proposal would establish a fairer tax system by providing a $1.2 billion tax credit to the bottom 60% of all the state's income earners.

Supporting an income tax increase isn’t just about protecting services – it’s about preventing even further damage to our state’s economy. According to new findings from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, maintaining state spending can create or save 128,000 jobs, shorten the recession in Illinois by over six months, and reduce the state's unemployment rate by almost two percentage points.

To quote Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman of the New York Times, “It makes no sense to add to the problem by cutting public spending… [S]hredding the social safety net at a moment when many more Americans need help isn’t just cruel. It adds to the sense of insecurity that is one important factor driving the economy down…” We know Illinois will have to make tough choices in the weeks ahead, and although I am currently not a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, I urge the current assembly to make the right choice – support a responsible tax increase. Cuts to important social services, like home care for seniors, childcare, and medical care, are the wrong choices for our state. We cannot cut our way back to fiscal health.

I will fight to ensure that Illinois makes the right budgetary choices – establishing a fairer tax system and protecting essential social services.