 The rest of Illinois' record-breaking $13 billion budget deficit
should be addressed mostly by borrowing money and letting more
unpaid bills pile up, Quinn said in a brief speech to legislators.
Letting more bills pile up could be disastrous for those who need
help with child care, job training, services to the elderly, drug
counseling and more. The local organizations the state hires to
provide those services, which already are struggling to survive,
could go under if they don't get paid.
The Democratic governor did little to lay out the potential
impact of his proposed budget or to explain why he was retreating
from his past proposals for a larger income tax increase. Quinn did,
however, refer to the difficulty of raising taxes in an election
year.
"I'm still an optimist, but I'm also a realist," Quinn said.
Quinn's budget proposal calls for cutting spending by more than
$2 billion, with education taking a hit of $1.3 billion.
But he called it shortsighted to cut education spending and
challenged legislators to approve an income tax "surcharge" instead.
Quinn's budget director, David Vaught, said later that the
governor is proposing a permanent increase and that it would
generate about $2.8 billion a year. The state's personal income tax
rate is now 3 percent, so Quinn's proposal would increase the rate
by one-third.
Quinn rejected calls for across-the-board budget cuts. His
opponent in the fall election, Republican Sen. Bill Brady, favors
cutting all of state government by about 10 percent.
"That approach is both heartless and naive. Taking a chain saw to
our state budget ... is just plain wrong," Quinn said.
Lawmakers last year rejected Quinn's proposal to raise income
taxes by 50 percent. Now, in an election year, lawmakers aren't any
more eager to consider the idea.
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House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, called it brave of
Quinn to call for a tax increase. "That doesn't mean it's going to
happen," Madigan added in an interview with public television.
Lawmakers could pass a temporary budget and postpone any
politically touchy decisions until after the November election. At
that point, legislators will be safe from voter backlash and Quinn
will either have won a full term or have been beaten by Brady, who
opposes any increase.
Although Quinn called for a tax increase, he did not include it
in the formal budget he's submitting to the Legislature. Instead,
his budget addresses the deficit by cutting expenses by $2 billion,
borrowing $4.7 billion to pay old bills and letting about $6 billion
in new bills pile up for another year.
State employees would have to take unpaid days off, saving $200
million. Prescription drug benefits for the elderly would be cut in
half, saving $70 million. The state would share less tax money with
local governments, saving about $300 million.
Quinn proposed a $2,500 tax credit for each new job created by
small businesses. He said it would create 20,000 jobs.
[Associated Press;
By CHRISTOPHER WILLS]
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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