Tell Legislators to Keep Their Word: Don't Make Income Tax Increase Permanent
Please take a few minutes to contact your state legislators and tell them to “keep their promise” to keep the 67% income tax increase temporary.
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On January 3, 2013, after ringing in the New Year, legislators will meet at the Statehouse in Springfield for their “lame duck” session before the newly-elected General Assembly is inaugurated. This is not an insignificant event, given that 35, or some 20%, of all state representatives & senators are not returning.
These lame duck sessions provide a perfect opportunity for mischief. Recall it was during the last lame duck session in 2011 that the 67% “temporary” increase in the state income tax was pushed through the state Senate at 1:30 am. Since then, six of the lame ducks who voted for it have been given government jobs, some of which come with an annual salary of more than $130,000. As originally passed, the state personal income tax rose from 3% to 5% and will fall to 3.25% by 2025. The corporate income tax rate rose from 4.8% to 7% and will fall back to 4.8% by 2025. If Illinois hopes to improve its business climate, it is imperative that the general assembly allows the income tax increase to sunset.
However, there are rumblings that some folks in the General Assembly would like to make the increases permanent, even though they said it was temporary when they passed it less than two years ago.
Senate President John Cullerton justified raising the income tax on all residents by 67% by claiming it was a temporary increase to pay down backlogged bills:“We’re going to pay our bills on time. We’ll pay all of our backlogged bills in the first months of 2011 and stay current going forward,”said Cullerton.
Today, the State of Illinois has 191,299 unpaid bills which total more than $6.9 billion.
Cullerton also said: “A portion of this tax (increase) is going to expire in four years… This, again, is a temporary tax.”
Other politicians echoed Cullerton’s comments on the income tax increase:
“We have some temporary tax increases that are designed to pay our bills.”
- Governor Pat Quinn
“Remember the point of this income tax increase is not to expand programs, not to do brand new things in Illinois state government, it is only intended to pay our old bills and deal with the structural deficit.”
- House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie
Thank you for standing up for fiscal responsibility!
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