Progress Illinois

While the Civic Federation's latest budget proposal is far from perfect, Larry Msall made clear on WTTW's Chicago Tonight yesterday that they will be an aggressive voice in favor of raising the income tax rate in Illinois this year.  And we certainly need more of those.  During last night's appearance, Msall took the wind out of Illinois Republicans' dishonest argument that the state can magically cut and borrow its way out of a $12.8 billion hole, noting that an "all-cuts budget" would involve "tak[ing] 80 percent of the operating budget of Illinois and eliminate it."

"We're calling on members of the General Assembly and the governor to understand how close the state is to bankruptcy," Msall said, "and not to push it into bankruptcy." He added a call to action: "More citizens need to contact their legislators and more citizens need to understand just how much of a bad situation is developing." Go watch the full segment.

"You have to cut first before raising taxes."  Illinois Republicans, House Speaker Michael Madigan, and most recently Chicago Mayor Richard Daley have all offered this argument at some point during the past 12 months. 

The idea seems to be that voters would ultimately be more accepting of an income tax increase if they first observed the state doing some "belt-tightening."  But how would such a plan actually work?  How long after enacting these sweeping cuts would the state be able to raise taxes? Six months?  One year?  Longer?  And how come last year's state budget -- which slashed spending by $2 billion without bumping up the tax rate -- doesn't count?

While we're on the topic, Daley's advice yesterday for state lawmakers is a bit hard to take. "You have to look at priorities," he told the Tribune, "and figure out if there's waste, inefficiency and corruption, anything, because you have to look at that." Take it from a guy who has done none of those things while in office.