Friday, July 07, 2017

Meanwhile, in Illinois

Michael Madigan gets his way, as he always does:
Democratic lawmakers voted 71-42 to override Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto of a $5 billion tax hike on Thursday.

Illinois has been in a budgetary showdown to address a $6.2 billion deficit, as well as nearly $15 billion in unpaid bills and hundreds of billions of dollars in unfunded retirement benefits for state workers.

Rauner had pushed lawmakers to close the deficit by reforming workers compensation and consolidating local governments, while also capping local property taxes. Democrats, who control the state Senate and House of Representatives, along with 16 Republican state representatives, rejected those measures and instead approved hiking income taxes from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent and corporate taxes from 5.25 percent to 7 percent on Sunday night. Rauner vetoed the bill on Tuesday.
For comparison, the top income tax rate in Minnesota is nearly double that of Illinois. For purposes of illustration:

Lock the front door, oh boy

I'll be watching how this one plays out.

4 comments:

Bike Bubba said...

Come to Illinois for the tax hikes and onerous firearm laws, stay for the corruption and lousy schools!

It's a pity that Mike Madigan isn't criminally liable for thinking that five billion in tax hikes is going to solve a $251 billion problem in unfunded liabilities. Hope that the public sector unions enjoy getting bupkus when the state goes bankrupt!

Gino said...

income tax rates are only a fraction of the story. CA has a high rate, but property tax rates are low. TX has a higher rate of property tax, much higher, than CA.

seriously, the whole tax picture needs to be taken into account.

a problem for CA: govt workers retire and leave for cheaper states, taking that 50K (or more) per year pension with them...

Mr. D said...

income tax rates are only a fraction of the story. CA has a high rate, but property tax rates are low. TX has a higher rate of property tax, much higher, than CA.

seriously, the whole tax picture needs to be taken into account.


Yes. And IL has just about the highest property tax burden in the country, so ramping up the state income tax makes a big difference.

3john2 said...

The public unions never settle for bupkus; their position is right out of Good Fellas: "State went bankrupt? F-you, pay me. You had a fire? F-you, pay me. You voted Democrat? F-you, pay me!" And someone will. Want to guess who?