Brady says no to increase in state income tax

[May 29, 2009]  SPRINGFIELD -- State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, says he will not support Democratic leaders' attempts to raise the income tax, noting they have not made a serious attempt to cut a budget that has increased by more than $6 billion in just seven years and have not addressed the anti-business policies that are driving revenue-producing jobs to other states.

"To Democrat legislative leaders who are publicly asking Republicans to jump on the income tax increase bandwagon -- my answer is 'no!' Someone has to stand up for the working families of Illinois and the businesses that provide the jobs for our citizens," Brady said. "Seven years of ‘tax-and-spend' government has surely left us some wiggle room to cut."

Gov. Pat Quinn claims a 50 percent income tax increase is needed to pay the state's bills, and he has recommended raising the income tax rate from 3 percent to 4.5 percent to help fill an $11.5 billion budget hole.

"The governor wrongly takes the short-term approach by proposing to increase taxes by more than $2 billion on Illinois families and another $2 billion dollars on Illinois employers. And some argue that we can cut our way out of this," Brady said. "The systemic solution to our economic crisis should include revenue increases through natural growth and spending reduction. The biggest failure to date is (the failure) to realize that Illinois must refocus on job creation, with the higher quality of life and the additional state revenues those jobs will mean for Illinois and our families."

The 44th District senator says that over the last six years, Illinois has lost more than 700,000 jobs and more than $3 billion in revenue for the state each year.

"To solve our economic climate, we must resolve ourselves to making Illinois a low cost-of-doing-business state -- reducing taxes, fees and bureaucratic delays so employers can create more good jobs for Illinois workers and a higher quality of life for their families," Brady said. "Our budget must be balanced, but not with the policies of pushing more jobs to neighboring states. Our short-term solutions include temporary reduction in spending, backed with reforms that eliminate our expensive tax fees and bureaucratic delays."

[Text from file sent on behalf of Sen. Bill Brady by Illinois Senate Republican staff]