“When the people find that they can vote themselves money that will herald the end of the republic.” – Ben Franklin
By Mark Glennon*
Unbelieveable. State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), a major lietenant of House Speaker Michael Madigan, today proposed a graduated income tax under which 99% of Illinois taxpayers would get a cut. One-percenters would see rates increase gradually up to 9.75%. More specifically, according to the Chicago Tribune:
Under Lang’s proposal, taxpayers who are married and filing a joint return or a head of a household would pay 3.5 percent for income of $200,000 or less; 3.75 percent on income between $200,000 and $750,000; 8.75 percent on income between $750,000 and $1.5 million; and 9.75 percent on income over $1.5 million.
“There is another path forward that puts tax dollars back in the hands of hardworking families and eases the pain caused by recent budget cuts,” said Lang. “When my bill passes and the governor signs it, ninety-nine percent of taxpayers will get a tax cut.”
Never mind that study released earlier this month finding Chicago’s exodus of millionaires to be among the four highest in the world.
It wouldn’t solve much. It would raise less than $2 billion per year, but we are already spending $6.2 billion more than we are taking in, according to the Comptroller.
Governor Rauner and business groups immediately blasted the plan.
We’re speechless, except to remind you that a graduated income tax would require a constitutional amendment, which almost certainly would fail.
Full text of the bill is linked here.
*Mark Glennon is founder of WirePoints. Opinions expressed are his own.
A set of state lawmakers want to extend CPS’ current school closing moratorium to February 1, 2027 – the same year CPS is set to transition to a fully-elected school board. That means schools like Manley High School, with capacity for more than 1,000 students but enrollment of just 78, can’t be closed for anther three years. The school spends $45,000 per student, but just 2.4% of students read at grade level.
Hopefully, all media will get the message, in Illinois, too.
Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about Illinois’ highest-in-the-nation property taxes, why lawmakers don’t want to touch the tax’s cost drivers, just how much Illinoisans’ tax burden has grown over the decades, why Gov. Pritzker failed to meet his promise to reform property taxes, and more.
I see my local state Senator Bill Haine has now collected over a million in pension benefits yet, under Illinois law, these benefits are not taxed. How about it Bill. Maybe you should start paying some taxes instead of wanting the rest of us to pay more. I mean watching a minimum wage worker paying taxes when they are just trying to get by and you paying nothing while living in the 1%.
I think they should do this. I think they should tax by the mile. I think they should raise property taxes to the fullest to cover all expenses. Raise water fees, raise minimum wage to $15/hr. Let’s see what happens.
Jeff- Good idea for an article. Aggregate all the wacko ideas. It will look like an asylum.You go first.
This is the economic equivalent of a gateway drug. Give folks into thinking they’ll pay less in taxes, draw them into agreeing to amending the Constitution to allow graduated taxes, then you have free reign to change the rates. I can see it now: Year 1: 3.5 percent for income of $200,000 or less; 3.75 percent on income between $200,000 and $750,000 Year 3: 3.5 percent for income of $100,000 or less; 3.75 percent on income between $100,000 and $750,000 Year 5: 4.0 percent for income of $100,000 or less; 5.75 percent on income between $100,000 and $750,000 Year 7:… Read more »
Exactly right Nixit ! On the road to socialism there are few if any u-turns !