While this new advisory referendum could be nothing more than a political distraction, it could also be that lawmakers are gauging Illinoisans’ appetite for another bite at a progressive income tax hike – this time with lower property taxes as a sweetener.
In 2020, Illinoisans rejected Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his legislative allies’ push for a progressive income tax scheme in Illinois. And with it, they rejected claims a progressive tax would “modernize” Illinois’ income tax. Right they were. Over the past decade far more states have moved to a flat tax structure than vice-versa.
Illinois’ individual income tax has had a moderating effect on Illinois’ otherwise overall high tax burden. It’s been one of the few tax “advantages” Illinoisans have had. But that advantage has been gradually worn down over the years.
State lawmakers across the country have given their residents permanent tax cuts over the last two years. In all, 22 states have cut individual tax rates since 2021 as a result of booming state-government revenues. But don’t expect any cuts under Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Illinois Sen. Bob Martwick, an ally of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, is reportedly planning to offer a new version of a progressive tax scheme for Illinois “as soon as next month.” A quick scan of national reporting reveals the foolishness of any such tax hike proposal. States across the country are overwhelmingly moving towards flat and zero income tax structures. An Illinois tax hike would be moving
To all those Illinoisans who opposed the progressive tax back in 2020: you’re being proven more right every day. This year alone, four states decided to transition their individual state income tax from progressive to flat.
On the progressive tax increase it’s as if he has been on a different planet.
Speaker Welch wants Illinois to have a second go at a progressive tax scheme, this time committing the tax hike proceeds to pensions….which means it would help pay for Mike Madigan’s pension benefit of $149,000 a year.
Everything was aligned in favor of the amendment. And yet, it failed. The reason why likely boils down to one word: trust.
The airwaves are being bombarded with emotionally charged ads for and against the progressive tax. Still confused? Here are the 20 facts you should know about the progressive tax amendment.
The report’s final warning shouldn’t be ignored: “Were the proposed graduated-rate income tax adopted, Illinois would trail its peers in just about every aspect of its tax code. If businesses and individuals are leaving the state now, these policies can only make the problem worse.”
Illinoisans voting on the “Fair Tax” constitutional amendment who have not already studied it probably will be duped into the wrong choice because the ballot is deceitful and incomplete.
“You don’t raise taxes during a recession.”
A response to their recent op-ed in the Chicago Tribune.
The latest progressive tax ad claims Illinois has “one of the most unfair tax systems in America,” ignoring that 35 states actually have tax structures similar to Illinois. The ad also says 97 percent of Illinoisans will pay the same or less under the progressive tax. That certainly won’t be true in the future.
Flat and no-income tax states are beating out progressive tax states in the contest for people and their incomes. The nation’s seventeen flat and no income tax states won a net 1.9 million residents and $120 billion in Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) from progressive tax states during the 2000-2018 period.
Wirepoints published a version of this article last year. We’ve updated it to reflect the new reality of the COVID-19 crisis.
Everyone should reject Pritzker’s progressive tax. Not only are his rates not credible, but real home values in Illinois are falling. Residents are leaving in record numbers. Tax rates are already among the highest in the nation. And our politicians are the country’s most corrupt. A multi-billion dollar tax hike will make every one of those things worse.
If you’ve listened to Gov. J.B. Pritzker in the past few weeks, you’ve heard him play games with words. We called him out on it recently and now he’s doing it again. If the progressive tax fixes the budget deficit and delivers a tax cut, then there will be no money for property tax relief.
At the rate Illinois is losing people, it wouldn’t take long at all for Pritzker’s progressive tax hike to bleed away Illinois’ million-plus earners. There just aren’t that many of them to begin with. And faced with a 60-percent tax increase, the chances are higher they’ll leave.
The progressive tax will reportedly bring in just $3.6 billion in new revenue, which would be swallowed immediately by the state’s billion-dollar budget deficit, pension costs and unpaid bills. That leaves nothing for property tax relief.
Ted was on the Illinois Channel last week taking a look at what happened to Illinois in 2019 and what the state needs to do to make 2020 a better year.
Imagine how ludicrous it would be if Sears announced a turnaround plan based on just one thing: price hikes. No operating reforms, no change in strategy, no improvement in products – just price hikes. Such a strategy might sound absurd, but it’s precisely the approach politicians are pushing in Illinois.
Common sense says Illinois is a high tax state once all state and local taxes are added up. Analyses from a Chicago Fed economist to the Tax Foundation to personal-finance firm WalletHub all back that fact up.
The total amount of city, county and state retirement debt Chicagoans are on the hook for is $150 billion. That’s nearly $145,000 per household. Most can’t afford to pay that debt. If politicians put the burden only households earning $200,000 or more, those Chicagoans will be on the hook for more than $2 million in government retirement debts each.
Using a windfall revenue bump in a budget that’s already phony solves nothing and misleads the public in the same ways they’ve always been misled.
Look for lawmakers to paint Moody’s recent report on Illinois’ proposed progressive tax scheme as a positive endorsement. But the agency’s requirements for a credit “positive” outcome for the tax are nearly impossible for Illinois to achieve. And if lawmakers fail to meet the agency’s requirements, the tax could even lead to more downgrades.
Ted was on Fired Up with Mike Flannery last week debating Pritzker’s progressive tax rates with two progressive tax supporters. Ted’s message was simple, “Anyone who thinks tax hikes are the solution to Illinois’ problems are just flat out wrong.”
If you’re an ordinary Illinoisan, you may be tempted to support Gov. Pritzker’s plan to change Illinois’ flat tax structure to a progressive one. He’s promising to lower your taxes if you’ll support the switch. You should reject his offer. Simply put, the governor’s progressive tax numbers aren’t credible, nor is his offer of tax breaks for the middle class. Illinoisans might think they’ll get a deal, but in reality, they’re setting themselves up to take a hit.
Oh, the places Illinois’ wealthy will go. Under the governor’s new plan, everyone with incomes above $250,000 will get hit with tax rates of 7.75 percent or more. That’s higher than the top tax rates in 44 other states.
Wednesday’s Budget address is time to put up or shut up..
Illinoisans shouldn’t fall for Pritzker’s progressive tax push. The state is already too uncompetitive with its neighbors. It’s too much of an outlier on taxes. And it’s losing too many people.
Newly-minted Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker boxed himself into a corner when he delivered his inaugural address on Monday. He promised to balance the budget, spend billions more on programs and spare Illinois’ middle class from an income tax hike – all while keeping the state’s core spending drivers intact. What he promised simply isn’t possible.
Ted was on WROK Rockford this week talking about Illinois gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker’s promises to spend billions more and enact a progressive income tax that only hits the wealthiest Illinoisans. Pritzker’s promises are impossible to keep. The math says so.
Reposted due to recent coverage in the Wall Street Journal editorial “Nickel-and-Diming Democrats.” Based on the spending promises J.B. Pritzker made during his campaign, any realistic progressive tax rate structure will have to raise taxes on middle-income earners
Ted was on Illinois Rising this week discussing progressive income taxes and J.B. Pritzker’s refusal to put forth a specific tax proposal. The reason why is simple. Pritzker will have to hit the middle class with higher taxes to pay for all his promises.
Rich Miller reposted a tweet that leaves unsuspecting readers thinking Minnesota’s progressive tax structure would be favorable to individual “middle-income” Illinoisans. But it’s just not true. Most, if not all, individual middle-income Illinoisans would pay more in taxes.
J.B. Pritzker promises to use a progressive income tax to hit the rich while lowering taxes on the middle class. Don’t buy it. It’s an empty promise. He’ll end up taxing the middle class as well. The proof is in the tax rates of Illinois’ neighboring states.
Somebody should have told Madigan that if he wants to be “…cutting taxes on the middle class, putting more money in the pockets of working families,” then the last thing Illinois should do is copy its neighbors’ progressive tax schemes.
“The scary thing they don’t want you to know is, if you look at progressive tax rates around the country, they’re not on the rich, they’re on the middle class and working class…when you start these progressive taxes, politicians realize they need more money, so they bring that higher and higher rate down into the middle income and working classes.”
“If there ever was a wake-up call of how deep we are in the abyss, this is it.“
To pretend that progressive taxes like those proposed in Illinois are the answer, with little else is, is quack demagoguery.
“The chief cause of problems is solutions.” – Eric Sevareid By: Mark Glennon* If Illinois Progressives were true to what they’re supposed be about — helping the little guy — we should all be one. But they’re not. Policies they’ve enacted and now propose are a catalog of unintended consequences, naivete, virtue signaling, willful ignorance and stuff that just doesn’t work. Before the list, one note: Progressives will react to some of this by saying, “That’s why we want a progressive income tax.” Understood. I’ll address that separately below. And the fact remains that, without implementing a progressive income tax,
By: Mark Glennon* “We have a recovery plan that the school district and the city council should consider,” says Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis in release yesterday. “We look forward to working with you and members of the city council.” Read the whole list in their “revenue recovery plan” contained in the release, but here’s the real gem: They’d like to reinstate arguably the most job-killing, despised, idiotic tax in history — the head tax. That’s a per-employee tax on employers, and they want it levied at four times the level it was previously levied in Chicago.
By: Mark Glennon* A core goal of progressivism is fundamentally right and noble — helping those most in need. But what actually works is where their views split with the rest of us, and that’s certainly true on pension reform. Illinois progressives appear universally opposed to repeal of the pension protection clause in the Illinois Constitution. That shouldn’t be so. All sides should agree: Repeal is essential to reforming many Illinois pensions in a way that protects rank-and-file workers with reasonable pensions. It’s at the local level where the pension crisis is most acute and where the flexibility
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