Over the weekend, we closely tracked the resurgence of Sen. James Meeks' tax proposal, which would generate $5.2 billion in revenue by increasing both the personal and corporate income tax to 5 percent and expanding the sales tax to certain consumer services.  (It would also raise the personal exemption from $2,000 to $3,000, double the state property tax credit, and triple the Earned Income Tax Credit.) 

The Illinois Senate approved the plan on Saturday night, leading Meeks to say that Senate President John Cullerton had "earned his stripes."  The House Education Committee did the same yesterday afternoon, with about 11 hours left in the regular legislative session.  But ultimately the House Democrats opted not to hold a floor vote on the plan, instead defeating Gov. Quinn's favored proposal to temporarily hike the state income tax.

And Meeks is not happy about it:

After Quinn's evening press conference to wave the white flag on a pre-adjournment tax hike vote, Meeks slammed the governor for not pushing the plan until the legislative stopwatch expired.

"I'm not satisfied Gov. Quinn worked as hard as he could have," Meeks said. "The governor should be meeting with 25 people who are 'nos,' trying to turn them into "yeses." He should be meeting with them, rather than having a press conference.

"He gave up," Meeks said. "He gave up at 9 o'clock. You don't give up at 9 o'clock with three hours to go. That's just like giving up in the first quarter just because you're down by 20 points."

Quinn deserves the criticism.  After all, it's not like his temporary plan was, on its face, more viable than Meeks' proposal (the former received 42 aye votes in the House, while the latter reportedly received the support of 35 House Democrats in a caucus meeting yesterday).  In fact, you could make a better argument for the political wisdom of Meeks' plan: Specifically, it allows lawmakers to tell their consituents that they've 1) delivered property tax relief and protected low-income taxpayers, and 2) taken a step towards fixing the state's inequitable school funding system.  

But Madigan also deserves a large helping of blame. 

As Greg Hinz writes today, he basically sat this one out:

For several years the Speaker, who has the reputation of being both the adult in the room and the person who really runs Springfield, has preached the necessity of raising the state's income tax. Though he never moved a tax bill when Mr. Blagojevich was governor -- Blago vowed to veto it -- the Speaker gave every indication things would change this year.

So, how many House Dems vote for a temporary tax hike on Sunday?  Just 42, with 26 voting against.

Is that really the best he could do?  Absolutely no one in Springfield I spoke with, and I spoke with a lot, answered yes.  As one Quinn staffer put it, "The Speaker didn't do much."

No, he didn't.  All he did is leave open the possibility of reviving a tax vote later in the year, after the deadline passes for those who might want to run against some of Mr. Madigan's House Dems.

Quite a profile in courage.

So what's next?  Quinn made the rounds on local radio this morning, but his tune hasn't changed much.  He and the Democratic legislative leaders met this afternoon and, according to Capitol Fax, the governor said he would like to resolve the situation by July 1.  The Republican leaders, who votes will be necessary to pass any budget in overtime, are saying they were shut out of the first round of negotiations.  Another meeting is scheduled for Thursday.