The 2021 Fiscal Year begins on June 1, 2020. The vote on the Constitutional Amendment to change Illinois from a flat tax state to a graduated tax state (read as tax hike for many Illinoisans) will be on the November 10, 2020 ballot. Yet Governor JB Pritzker presented a recommended FY21 budget recently that includes $1.4 million in spending from an approved graduated income tax ballot question.
Does anyone see a problem with that? Prizker’s proposed budget includes revenue from a ballot question that won’t even be voted on until nearly halfway through the fiscal year.
Illinois exists in a sea of red ink. In fact, as the Governor presented his FY21 budget, which increases spending by $2.2 billion, Illinois’ backlog of unpaid bills stood at $7.3 billion and pension debt exceeded $173.3 billion. During his speech, Pritzker announced he was holding $200 million in much-needed school funding for FY21 back unless his graduated income tax proposal passes. Health care and public safety are other areas that will see funding held hostage unless voters do what they’re supposed to do and hand Illinois Democrats the blank check they need to satisfy their insatiable thirst for spending.
Illinois has more revenue right now than ever in the state’s history. Legalized cannabis is expected to bring in at least $46 million in FY21. And with the booming economy across the country, Illinois is reaping the benefits of more people working and paying taxes, which creates more revenue through economic growth. There is simply no need to raise taxes to balance next year’s budget. The Governor could have chosen to let economic growth drive our revenues and then craft a budget that lives within those higher-than-ever revenues. He chose not to. Instead, he presented a rosy picture of the state if people support his Constitutional Amendment to tax many Illinoisans at a higher rate, and contrasted it with a ‘doomsday’ scenario if the amendment fails.
However, now we have a budget proposal on the table. I hope lawmakers will take a thoughtful and deliberate approach to drafting the bills that will emerge as the final budget documents. The Governor’s recommended budget is just that – a recommendation. Rather than using phantom money, fiscal responsibility can and should drive a bipartisan budget process. We don’t need to wait until the end of May to see a budget hammered out behind closed doors. We need to begin bipartisan appropriations work right away so that a responsible and balanced revenue and expenditure plan can come together prior to our May 31 adjournment date.
