Kendall County Times

Kendall County Republican Party Chairman James Marter wasn’t surprised to see Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s push for his progressive tax plan fall short with voters.

“It was just a matter of voters coming to realize what it actually does,” Marter told the Kendall County Times. “It opens the door to all kinds of groups being taxed more, even seniors, and no one was comfortable with that given how much taxes are already out of control in Illinois.”

Marter said he’s also not shocked to see an angry Pritzker now threatening everything from across-the-board tax increases to “painful” budget cuts as a way of balancing things out as he sees fit.

“Hopefully, the governor is just venting with his threat of more taxes,” he said. “I would think everyone realizes taxes are already too high in this state.”

As for the any potential cuts, Marter said he welcomes all ideas.

“My motto is cut until it bleeds,” he said. “With where we are right now, cutting is the only way to go. In any household, whenever you start spending more than you take in you have to cut. That’s how it works and it’s high time that we start the cut and reform movement in Springfield.”

In the days leading up to the tax being on the Nov. 3 ballot in the form of a constitutional amendment, Marter made it a point of stressing all the dangers he thought the tax stood to mean for the state.

“If it happens more people with incomes that allow them to will be leaving Illinois,” he said. “There’ll be a downturn on everything, with small businesses having to cut back to survive and many of them not making it at all. I saw a recent article rating all states on tax burden and Illinois was dead last.”