Monday, November 16, 2015

Is there an Illinois budget proposal being considered in Springfield?





Some of the highlights:

• Increase the Personal Income Tax [Dé jà vu, anyone?]…
 
• Increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to Offset Broad Tax Increases… 

• Increase the Corporate Income Tax [Another Dé jà vu.]…

• Maintain the Local Distributive Share Rate at 8% (Personal) and 9.14% (Corporate) after the tax increases…

• Eliminate Corporate Loopholes...

• Expand the Sales Tax to Consumer Services [But excluding professional and business-to-business services?] … 

• Immediately Cut $1 Billion from Expenditures [If it’s not Education and Human Services, what will be cut then?]…
 
• Restrict Discretionary Spending Growth [Define Discretionary Spending!]…

• License Chicago to Operate a Casino…

• Increase State K-12 Education Funding with Revenues from a Retirement Tax and Commit to Reforms [Since the notorious State of Illinois is rated last in the nation for funding education, let's have the retirees pay for it!?]…

• Tax Some Retirement Income to Benefit K-12 Education [And those millionaire retirees from the Civic Committee, Civic Federation, et al. will be taxed! Right?]…

• Reform Education Funding to Make the System Fair [It’s about time we abolish the GSA formula!]… 

• Provide Relief for Chicago Public Schools and Create School District Mandate Parity... 

• Pass the Cullerton Pension Reform Plan [Of course, even though it’s unconstitutional!? Another Dé jà vu!]…

• Study the Consolidation of Local Pension Funds… 

• Create a Realistic Repayment Timeline for the State’s Five Pension Funds [And will it include all of the following? 1. The State of Illinois should pay retirees what they stole from them all these years. 2. The State of Illinois should fully fund the pension systems. 3. The State of Illinois should shift to level-dollar amortization of unfunded liabilities and 4.The State of Illinois should replace the full-funding date with a reasonable rolling amortization period, to name just a few.]… 

• Create a Realistic Repayment Timeline for Fire and Police Pension Funds Across Illinois... 

• Increase the State’s Minimum Wage [WOW! $11 by 2019. Do we really want to keep most people in poverty forever?]...
 
• Reform Workers Compensation in a Bipartisan Manner [Is that even possible?]… 

• Reform the Collective Bargaining Scope for Public Employees [Let’s break those unions, shall we!]… 


For the full story from Crain’s, click here:Huge deal floated to break Springfield's budget deadlock” by Greg Hinz


P.S.
Yes, I have been writing about or covering these issues since June 2011. Click on the tabs, “Fair Taxation” or “Fair Solutions,” under this blog’s masthead.


1 comment:

  1. Rauner and Madigan are not about "Fair Taxation" and "Fair Solutions."
    They are both about power and legalized corruption. They are the problems not the solutions.
    Illinois is caught between imminent implosion and intentionally dismantling itself for private profit.

    ReplyDelete

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