Illinois' Financial Meltdown

By aaroncynic in News on Feb 23, 2010 9:20PM

According to the Civic Federation, financial Armageddon is at Illinois' doorstep. The Sun Times reports that the watchdog group, one of many in our state, released an analysis yesterday recommending the state increase the income tax, cut $2 billion more from the budget, along with some other measures to alleviate a $12 billion budgetary black hole. In an interview with the Sun Times, Civic Federation president Laurence Msall said “Doomsday is here.”

There's no question that Illinois is wading in deep fiscal woes and there are probably plenty of line items politicians should draw a big red line through. However, without a true plan that involves compromises from all points on the political spectrum, the state will continue to face financial apocalypse. Unfortunately, organizations like the Civic Federation, who recommend a 2% income tax increase and ending $181 million of corporate tax credits will face deep opposition from groups like The Illinois Policy Institute, who oppose tax increases and focus on eliminating waste that has smaller budgetary gains. With an election looming over our heads this year, we wonder if any actual work will get done in Illinois or if fixing our state's deep troubles will get lost in opposite binary campaign slogans and political rhetoric.