At a press conference in Springfield today, Senate President John Cullerton stated that the income tax bill (Sen. James Meeks' HB 174) approved by his chamber last month should serve as the "blueprint" for further budget negotiations, emphasizing that a vote for a tax increase "is the only way out."  In the clip below, Cullerton went on to question the idea of passing a temporary, two-year tax increase, noting that some economists think the economic downturn will last longer than that.  Listen:

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CULLERTON: [HB 174] evolved and we have elements of it that are very attractive -- that's why we got 31 votes for it. Property tax relief is important.  Having some progressivity is important. Recognizing that the corporate community is hurting now -- having only a slight increase for them.  But we also need to raise money to pay for these devestating cuts that we otherwise would have.  We're not a business that can just go out of business, because we have basic, fundamental services that we have to bring as a government.  [...]

I personally think that two years is not what economists are saying is how long we're going to be in this recession.  So why should it [the income tax hike] be two years?  [...]

We put it out there. We voted.  We got enough votes.  Some people didn't want to, but they did. And as Sen. Forby reminded me, this is not without sacrifice. Our complete budget involved some cuts. It involved fully funding the pension system.  Anything is negotiable as long as we keep the principles in mind that we need to balance our budget and not have these draconian cuts that all these people surrounding the capitol are complaining about today.

In the first passage excerpted above, Cullerton touches on a point we've emphasized before.  The bill passed by the Senate was, in several ways, farther-reaching than the proposal defeated by the House.  For instance, it was permanent rather than temporary and raised the personal income tax rate to 5 percent instead of 4.5 percent.  It also incorporated some property tax relief and mandated some modifications to our inequitable school funding system.  Those latter provisions gave lawmakers -- and their constituents -- something in return for their vote.  That's surely part of the reason it passed.