By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
A little more than three months ago Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s budget office (GOMB) projected a whopping $3.2 billion deficit for 2026. The deficit was treated as a dire problem – part of the $23 billion in total deficits the governor’s office had projected through 2030. At the time, Pritzker’s deputy governor sent a letter to the state’s departments warning of significant cuts.
So it’s reasonable to ask how that deficit simply disappeared when Pritzker released his proposed 2026 budget last week. It’s a particularly interesting question given that Pritzker declared in his budget speech: “I am not going to base a budget on bloated revenue estimates.”
But looking at the numbers, it seems that’s exactly what he’s done. Pritzker’s budget proposal suddenly has $2 billion more in revenues than originally projected, wiping out two-thirds of the deficit (see #1 in graphic).
November’s estimate of $53.4 billion revenue is now $55.4 billion. A billion more comes from income tax revenues. Another $500 million from sales taxes. And another $400 million from transfers into the General Fund.
To close the rest of the deficit, Pritzker’s budget proposal dropped spending to $55.4 billion from $56.6 billion, eliminating the remaining $1.2 billion shortfall (see #2 in graphic). Don’t mistake that drop as a cut in spending. The state will still spend about $2 billion more in 2026 than the $53.5 billion it spent in 2025.
There you have it. That’s how you wipe out a $3.2 billion deficit (see #3 in graphic) and “balance” the budget.*
The only problem is, if those increased revenue projections don’t pan out, watch out for tax hikes or service cuts to make up the difference.
*Illinois’ budgets aren’t truly balanced because the payments made to the state’s pension funds are always far lower than what the actuaries require. In 2025, that underpayment was almost $5 billion. Full details here.
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- Illinois shouldn’t dismiss Indiana’s overture to snap up “separatist” downstate counties
- Illinois’ government-anointed electric bus maker is a bigger fiasco than we knew
- One big example of why Illinois badly needs a DOGE of its own
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
This is the guy that thinks he will be running for president? He lies about the budget. The Chicago teachers union runs the failing schools. He keeps coming up with more ways to spend money he doesn”t have on liberal causes. He cheats on his property taxes. thats why he’s known as “Toilets”. He disobeys Federal laws with his “santuary cities” boondoggle. He loads the hospitals with non paying illegal aliens. He locates thousands of illegal aliens in free {to them} housing at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars to hard working legal residents. Good thing he is… Read more »
Vote JB out! He does not represent taxpayers.
Did NOT disappear but is being passed on to the next generation. This is standard operating procedure for Illinois. One of the main reasons many young people go away to college and never come back. Illinois is losing its long-term taxpayers.
If your tax base is shrinking as taxpayers and businesses leave, a proper budget would account for that. Also, some of Illinois federal funding is in jeopardy since Illinois Dems want to fight with Trump every chance they get. Glad none of this is my problem anymore. You Illinois taxpayers would cry if you knew how little I pay in taxes for the same lifestyle in Tennessee. Remember, some states like mine don’t even have a state income tax. It felt weird the first time I did my taxes and didn’t even need to file for the state, but now… Read more »
Even for all the companies I have worked at budgets are fiction. Need to look at actual results.
Illinois budgeting 101. If the forecasted budget makes you look bad, change the forecast and claim victory. No way Pritzker was going to take a huge L at a time when Trump would make him a laughingstock. What a pathetic putz.
Easy. They dipped their hands into the Road Fund. Does anyone think that over $45B or whatever collected over time will actually fix roads? Same for pension money that should have been allocated to “pensions” were most likely used for other purposes like political pet projects. These pols should be dealing cards in backroom poker games.
I see that found revenue includes an income tax increase of the order of $75 per person and a corporate drop.