On Memorial Day, members of the House of Representatives voted to put a Constitutional Amendment question on the 2020 ballot that would remove the flat income tax guarantee from the Illinois Constitution. The 44-member House Republican Caucus stood united in opposition to SJRCA 01. After the vote, State Representative Steve Reick (R-Woodstock) issued the following statement:
“Illinoisans were promised in 2011 and 2017 that the income tax increases in those years would solve the state’s financial crisis. Today we again considered a proposal that is being billed as a solution to our state’s problems, when that couldn’t be further from the truth. The pension debt is by far the biggest issue hanging over us, and money in this proposal that has been promised for pensions does not even cover the pension payment increases from year to year. This new tax does nothing to address our biggest problems. It simply opens the door to more reckless spending down the road.”
“Statements that this change to Illinois’ tax structure will solve our financial problems are patently false. We certainly need tax reform but this is not the way to do it. We must do a top to bottom review of our spending and show some restraint for a change. The flat tax guarantee is one of our state’s only remaining protectors. Removing it will only feed the Democrat’s insatiable appetite for spending.”