Totaling the unsustainable tax increases and windfall revenue during Pritzker Administration – Wirepoints
May 26, 2026
10 Comments
With $162 billion more from taxpayers, couldn’t you deliver a few bond upgrades, too
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A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
I’m not fooled either, but maybe it’s time to consider a grand compromise. Tie a progressive plan to a spending cap and long-term lock on tax rates. Show that you are willing to make some concessions. Make the other side seem like the bad guy here.
No way. It would have to be tied to a massive package of reforms comprising a long term plan sufficient to convince taxpayers that the road to stability was set. Just a spending cap and rate lock wouldn’t come remotely close to solving anything, and most everybody would know that the new taxes would go down the rat hole.
You know that. I know that. I know countering with your own progressive tax structure looks like you’ve bought in to a progressive tax, which is why it’s a binary decision for the Republicans. But it seems like Rauner simply shaking his head “no” on the matter isn’t going to fly here. Not in this climate. Rauner needs to counter or play along in some manner. The rebuttal should be, “OK, you’ve heard all my reasons against this, but let’s say we did go down this path. Where’s the spending cap to make sure we don’t overspend, even with all… Read more »
Rauner’s approach from day 1 was scorched earth. In this process, he himself has ended up burned. A rookie politician thinking his methods and skills were so special and so unique his will alone would carry the day. Instead his abilities were less than ordinary and he was worked around. The opportunity he had, to bargain with the Democrats, and to provide fiscal conservatives with leverage at the bargaining table was squandered away. What we got from Rauner instead was 4 years of mudslinging. Rauner was a repetitive mud-slinger, but was ineffectual policy wise. So where did all Rauner’s mud… Read more »