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Taxpayer alert! Governor pushes
nearly $1 billion in tax hikes
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[July 17, 2007]
SPRINGFIELD -- State Sen. Bill Brady,
R-Bloomington, warned taxpayers Monday that the governor plans to
push for hundreds of millions of dollars in tax increases on
Illinois businesses and families as an attempt to salvage his failed
proposal to sell or lease the Illinois Lottery.
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During a weekend budget meeting,
Brady received a list of proposed "corporate loophole closures" the
governor is considering as a source of revenue to replace more than
$600 million in education funding that would be lost if he
resurrects his lottery plan. The governor's lottery proposal was
rejected by the House of Representatives earlier this month on a
lopsided 78-6 roll call.
"This further proves how detached from reality our governor
really is. He won't negotiate, he won't listen to anyone's ideas but
his own, and now he's back to his broken record of 'tax and spend,’"
Brady said. "The governor seems to be addicted to the idea of these
stealth tax increases on Illinois citizens, first a
multibillion-dollar gross receipts tax that was soundly rejected by
Republicans and Democrats, and now nearly another billion dollars in
corporate tax increases that will harm every area of Illinois. The
legislature is now almost seven weeks into overtime with no end in
sight. It’s far past time for him to quit talking about huge tax
increases and get down to the business of leadership."
The latest list contains a $27 million hit to Illinois farmers by
taxing feed, seed and fertilizer; taxes out-of-state fuel purchases
by an estimated $45 million; and imposes $65 million in taxes on
canned software, among many other proposals to increase costs of
doing business in Illinois.
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 "The governor pretends to be the champion of Illinois citizens by
pledging not to raise taxes on people, but that's disingenuous at
best because the bulk of these tax hike ideas will be passed along
to Illinois families," Brady said. "These ideas are job-killers --
plain and simple. They are budget-killers for Illinois companies.
The governor needs to drop the talking points and start listening to
legislators and the people they represent."
Brady said he requested the list from the governor's Office of
Management and Budget after one of the governor's top budget
advisers claimed in a budget meeting a few weeks ago that the
administration could replace lost lottery education money by
"closing some additional tax loopholes." The list is in addition to
the tax hikes contained in
Senate Bill 1544, which passed the Senate May 31, without
Republican support, and hiked business taxes by an estimated $300
million.
[Text from news release sent on
behalf of
Sen.
Bill Brady by Illinois
Senate Republican staff]
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