Illinois voters will have a rare opportunity to directly decide on taxes at the ballot box Nov. 3. That’s because in 2019, Illinois lawmakers approved a defining feature of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s policy agenda by agreeing to ask voters to amend the Illinois Constitution and remove its flat tax protection.

Pritzker has made the adoption of a progressive income tax, which he calls the “fair tax,” a centerpiece of his policy agenda. The introductory rates attached to his plan would hike taxes on residents and businesses with incomes of $250,000 or more. Meanwhile, low-income residents would see a tax reduction of $6, while still paying the highest tax burden in the Midwest.

In his first budget address, the governor claimed “a fair tax is what three-quarters of states with income taxes have.”

But is that true?

The answer depends on how you define a “fair tax.” Pritzker has consistently sought to paint his plan as one that raises taxes only on “the rich,” while claiming everyone else would pay the same or less.

“It is not fair that I pay the same tax rate as a teacher, a child care worker, a police officer or a nurse,” Pritzker said.

However, in more than half of the states Pritzker claims have a “fair tax,” he would indeed pay the same tax rate as many middle-class taxpayers. That’s because in 18 of the 32 states that allow politicians to tax people differently based on income, the maximum tax rate hits at or near Illinois’ median family income of $79,168.

Pritzker is lumping together states such as California – which has 10 tax rates ranging from 1% to 13.3% on income over $1 million – with states such as Alabama that work much more like Illinois’ flat tax. Alabama has just 3 separate tax brackets and rates, with the maximum 5% rate affecting all income above just $3,000 for single filers or $6,000 for joint filers.

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