In conclusion: Vote No on the Pritzker Tax
This ElectionDay is also Future Day, ormaybe FulcrumDay. Which way will Illinois tip?
If voters permit graduated income tax rates, they’ll invite lawmakers to impose an endless scheme of new revenue grabs. That would further hobble Illinois’ jobs climate and economic future. It would intensify the Illinois Exodus of employers, young people and other taxpayers to better-managed states.
If, though, voters reject whatwe call the PritzkerTax amendment, they’ll be pressuring lawmakers to do the hardwork of restructuring howthis high-tax, high-spend state does the people’s business. That means forcing politicians to finally deliver policy reforms and public finance solutions— such as limiting spending to the many billions of dollars Springfield already collects.
The attitude of the politicians eager to collect more billions boils downto this: Give us your money but don’t make us change anything. As is, Illinois works just fine for us.
But it is notworking for rankand-file taxpayers. We’re reminded of amother strugglingwith an autistic child who wrote a letter to the editor this fall against the amendment, saying itwould be another empty promise froma state failing its disabled population. “There are approximately 19,500 people on thewaiting list for state aid and/or services, yet there are no clear plans to solve this problem. That’swhymy family and I are planning ourmove toWisconsin.
“State leaders are failing our most vulnerable. Yet theywant us to trust them, that— with this tax hike— they will finally do right. Illinois already has one of the highest tax burdens in the country and still fails to provide legitimate, easy-access services that people with disabilities need.”
So keep her inmind as you study your ballot onTuesday. And consider:
Have lawmakers protected public pensions?
If andwhen Illinois pension systems go insolvent— unable to pay benefits due— retirees can blame governors and legislators too cowardly to rescue pension funds fromunsustainable math. It’s easier for politicians to let union members risk fund collapses than it is to build consensus for equitable pension reforms on future benefits, not those already earned.
Has Gov. J.B. Pritzker kept his promise of property tax reform if the amendment went on the ballot? No. He and otherDemocratswant you to forget that promise.
Will lawmakers truly gouge only the top 3% of taxpayers?
Trust lawmakers to keep that pledge only if you don’t mind getting burned, while keeping these broken promises in mind: That theywould spend Illinois Lottery proceeds on schools. That their income tax surchargewas only “temporary.” That taxpayerswouldn’t have to bail out their doomed-from-thestart “College Illinois” program. ThatTollway travelwould be “Free in ’73!” That their punishing income tax hikes of 2011, and then of 2017, reallywould fix Illinois. That all these FBI raids, searchwarrants, wiretaps and federal charges of brazen corruption are no reason to deprive Springfield of new billions in taxes.
Have they let you vote to impose term limits? No. In some cultures, failed leaders resign and slink away. In Illinois, pols who’ve made a disaster of state finances keep running for office until they’re retired or indicted.
Have they let you vote on redistricting reform? What, and deprive incumbents of the right to drawtheir own districts?
Have they consolidatedmany of the 7,000local governments that drive runaway property taxes? No.
Did they pair this Pritzker Tax vote with spending reforms or an amendment to slowthe growth of pensions? No. That would require respect for taxpayers as more than convenient ATMs.
Would Pritzker& Co. endure this much criticism, and buy all these TV ads, if theywanted only $3 billion a year? Or does this divide-and-conquer strategy foreshadowimminent incometax hikes on middle- and working-class taxpayers? That question raises a question: Whenever our lawmakers could make easy money fromtax hikes, or do the hardwork of fixing Illinois, which did they choose?
You knowthe answer.
Vote Noon this tax amendment.