Kendall County Times

Illinois' 97th State House District issued the following announcement on April 2.

In a press conference at the State Capitol, State Representative Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) stood alongside his House Republican colleagues to oppose Governor JB Pritzker’s graduated income tax proposal.

Pritzker’s proposed rates would result in a $3.4 billion tax hike on Illinois families and businesses by moving the state from a flat income tax rate of 4.95% to a graduated income tax with six tax brackets. Many families and small businesses would pay a state tax rate of 7.75%, with the highest rate at 7.95%, while only providing a negligible decrease, if any, to those at the lowest end.  As many small business owners file their tax returns as individuals, Pritzker’s tax hike would hit Illinois small businesses especially hard.

Representative Batinick has remained committed to his opposition to this tax hike, and today further expressed his concerns about the effect this tax will have.  Batinick discussed the ineffectiveness of the prior tax increases in 2011 and 2017, which have only added to the backlog of debt that Illinois continues to carry.

“Our pension liabilities have steadily increased, our bond rating is near junk – and has dropped numerous times even after the 2011 tax hike was approved,” said Batinick. “Our Democratic colleagues love to make the promise that if we just raise this tax, or that tax, our problems will be solved.  But in reality, more money is spent without fixing any underlying problems. Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and with our fiscal condition, we literally cannot afford that.  This tax is very short sighted—if we are going to make real change for our state, we need a pro-growth, long term plan instead.”

For Batinick, a better proposal would include serious plans to tackle two of the state’s biggest challenges:  pensions and property taxes. 

Original source can be found here.