On Monday the House Revenue & Finance Committee recommended approval of Governor JB Pritzker’s proposal to eliminate the flat income tax protection from the Illinois Constitution. Representative Steve Reick (R-Woodstock) joined all other Republicans on the committee in voting against the measure. After the vote, Representative Reick issued the following statement:
“When presenting the amendment, the sponsor sang from a familiar hymnal when he said adoption of this measure would ‘solve our financial problems and eliminate our structural deficits.’ His words should ring hollow with every taxpaying Illinoisan who heard the same empty promises when Democrats raised the income tax in 2011 and 2017.”
“This graduated income tax is not going to solve our state’s systemic problems, like pensions. The additional funds that have been proposed to be allocated toward pensions is just $200 million; an amount that doesn’t even cover the increase in the pension payments from one year to the next. We can’t solve the state’s problems without addressing pensions.”
“As lawmakers, we have a responsibility to dig deeply into this proposal so we have a full understanding of its true impact. If we rush this and throw it on the ballot we’ve lost any opportunity we have to put this genie back in the bottle. We need to do the hard work now and determine whether or not a graduated tax structure is going to work before we ask voters to weigh in on it. I have not heard anything here today that tells me that this plan, as opposed to other types of tax reforms, is the right solution.”