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State Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, talks with Rep. Raymond Poe (left) and
Rep. Rich Brauer (right) about the governor's budget
address. The three legislators attended the address Wednesday in the Illinois House
chambers.
Bomke says, "Rochester has been waiting a long time for this funding
that the Governor pledged at a school assembly last year. It's just
unfortunate that we have had to wait this long to see the Governor
fulfill his promise."
"The Governor is making many promises with this budget. Of
course, some ideas are better than others. The Governor's healthcare
plan, Illinois Covered, is good in theory. Who doesn't want everyone
to be insured?" said Bomke. Illinois Covered will be paid for with
the new gross receipts tax.
The gross receipts tax will be levied on all revenues of a
business with no regard for whether the business is actually
profitable. It is basically a sales tax embedded at every level of
commerce in this state. This tax is a huge added cost of business
that will be woven throughout the fabric of our economy and will
ultimately be paid by citizens through inflated prices.
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 "This $6 billion tax increase is larger than the previous six
largest tax increases combined," said Bomke. "Some of this new
revenue should be used to give relief to working families, and help
with the high cost of property taxes."
The Governor didn't mention property tax relief in his address
but he did talk about the need to increase education funding.
Senator Bomke is glad to see that Governor Blagojevich is investing
in education with the per-pupil foundation level increasing by $686,
from $5,334 to $6,020. This is a 13 percent increase in the
foundation level. This investment will total $10 billion in
education funding over the next four years.
[Text copied from news release sent
on behalf of
Sen. Larry Bomke and received
from Illinois
Senate Republican staff]
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