In 2011, Illinois had an $8.5 billion bill backlog. In the same year, lawmakers increased income taxes, which will transfer an extra $31.6 billion from taxpayers to government during the fi rst fi ve years. But in 2014, Illinois has a $7 billion bill backlog. The math just doesn’t add up. Even though state government will have at its disposal what amounts to nearly an entire extra year’s operating budget, the amount of past-due bills dropped by only $900 million since the tax hike. As the sunset of the tax increase approaches in January 2015, state leaders are crying “catastrophe” and demanding that Illinois families and businesses pay more to government. Taxpayers have had enough of tax increases and the enabling of reckless spending. Illinois has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. Illinois lawmakers in January 2011 pushed through a record income tax increase that raised the income-tax rate on individuals to 5 percent from 3 percent, and on corporations to 7 percent from 4.8 percent. They called it the Taxpayer Accountability and Budget Stabilization Act and went on record making the following promises: “We have some temporary tax increases that are designed to pay our bills, get Illinois back on fi scal sound footing and make sure that our state has a strong economy.” – Gov. Pat Quinn “The purpose of this bill is to raise enough money so that we can continue to pay our pensions without borrowing the money, to pay off our debt, to have enough money to pay the interest on that debt …” – Senate President John Cullerton “… 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 defi cit.” – House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie - See more at: illinoispolicy.org/policy_posts/illinois-31-6-billion-tax-hike-where-did-the-money-go/?utm_source=outbrain#sthash.XgUU3LOC.dpuf
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 14:27:55 +0000
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