'Attempted bribery,' 'out of touch': GOP candidates for governor respond to Pritzker's budget address

[February 03, 2022]  By Dan McCaleb

(The Center Square) – Illinois' Republican candidates for governor called Gov. J.B. Pritzker "out of touch" with the state's fiscal realities after the first-term Democrat delivered his budget address Wednesday.

“Today we witnessed how out of touch our billionaire Governor, JB Pritzker, is with the people of Illinois," said suburban businessman Gary Rabine, who's seeking the GOP nomination for governor in June's primary. Pritzker is seeking re-election to a second term.

In fiscal 2023, Pritzker proposes spending $45.5 billion through the state's general fund, a nearly $4 billion increase from the current fiscal year's $41.6 billion budget. Billions of dollars of spending would be covered by one-time federal relief money allocated to the state by Congress in various COVID-relief measures. Among his proposals is $1 billion in temporary tax relief.

But venture capitalist and GOP candidate for governor Jesse Sullivan said the proposed tax relief is an election-year gimmick.

“Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s State of the State is nothing more than attempted bribery," Sullivan said in a statement. "He’s using a classic election year tactic of bait-and-switch budgeting: proposing $1 billion in temporary tax cuts after permanently hiking taxes by $5.4 billion. His own budget documents show his math doesn’t work. His budget will show a year-end deficit despite federal COVID aid.”

During Pritzker's term in office, Democratic lawmakers more than doubled the state's gasoline tax, hiked license plate renewal fees and raised other taxes.

Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, also a GOP candidate for governor, said Pritzker misled taxpayers during his budget address.

“It is no surprise that the Tax-Hiker-In-Chief is attempting to rewrite history today to mislead Illinois voters in an election year with gimmicks that rely on a disappearing federal bailout," Irvin said in a statement. "This is the same governor who pushed for the largest tax hike in our state’s history on Illinois families and businesses, and we know he plans to raise billions more in taxes when the federal money runs out."

Irvin was referring to Pritzker's attempt to change the state constitution to allow for a progressive income tax system that would have set higher rates on higher wage earners. Voters defeated that attempt at the polls in November 2020.

Candidate Paul Schimpf, a former state senator, also called Pritzker out for his "offensive" tax relief proposal.

“With Illinoisans already burdened by the highest effective tax rates in the nation, it is extremely offensive that Governor Pritzker would refer to his tax cut illusion as 'relief,'" Schimpf said in a statement. "The illusion of this so-called relief becomes even more galling when we consider that at the height of the pandemic, when Illinois families were struggling the most, Governor Pritzker attempted to increase the tax burden. But now, as electoral prospects appear less favorable, he presents himself as a tax-cutting leader.

"We asked for solutions, but all the governor offered was gimmicks."

Republican state Sen. Darren Bailey, who's also running for governor, said Pritzker has abandoned working families.

"I think it's very obvious that Pritzker, the Democratic Party and the political elite have abandoned the working families of Illinois," Bailey said. "It's interesting because now I think he's having a tough time with his reelection so he's offering an empty box of chocolates right before Valentine's Day and he's calling it tax relief. Well, maybe for a trust fund billionaire like J.B., temporarily not raising taxes sounds like tax relief, but for the working families across Illinois who are struggling to pay bills in their cars, deciding not to take pennies from them I think is a slap in the face. We need serious reforms in Springfield that aren't reliant on federal bailouts and actually benefit working families and taxpayers long term, not temporary shams during an election year."

Rabine also criticized Pritzker's handling of increased crime in the state, saying that "Chicago and its suburbs are the crime capitols of the country."

He also criticized the governor's handling of COVID-19, the state's economy and pension debt.

"Our unfunded public pension liability is at $130 billion – the worst in the nation," Rabine said. "Our state has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs due to JB’s heavy handed, unilateral decision to shut down the state’s economy. We are the highest taxed state in the country and more people left Illinois in the last decade than any other state.”

​Dan McCaleb is the executive editor of The Center Square. He welcomes your comments. Contact Dan at [e-mail].