Ahead Of Rauner's 2nd State Budget Address, Groups Demand An Actual Budget

By aaroncynic in News on Feb 17, 2016 4:00PM

Just ahead of Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner’s budget address at the state Capitol on Wednesday, groups are urging him to end the deadlock that’s gone on for 8 months and find revenue options.

Despite the fact that the state still hasn't passed a budget for the current fiscal year, Rauner will present his plan for next year. He and Illinois lawmakers have refused to pass one for the present fiscal year due to Rauner’s demands legislators adopt his ‘Turnaround’ agenda, which favors big business and would weaken unions. In the middle of the fray are social services that rely on state funding which have been forced to make deep cuts to their own budgets due to lapses in payments. The governor has also favored making cuts to services rather than explore revenue options, at least until lawmakers pass his agenda.

“I’m willing to compromise, but what I’m not willing to do is put in a massive tax hike with no structural reforms, just not willing to do it,” Rauner said Tuesday at the Illinois Pork Producers Association annual meeting, according to AgriNews.

Illinois currently faces a structural deficit of around $5 billion, which could balloon to upwards of $25 billion by 2019, according to a report released by the Civic Federation last week.

While Rauner asserts that his ‘Turnaround’ agenda is a series of structural reforms that will help fix this, critics not only have said it has nothing to do with the budget, but that it’s his refusal to find revenue sources—many of which would affect some of his wealthiest donors—that’s at the heart of the problem.

In a statement released Tuesday, Fair Economy Illinois, a group that helped organize a series of “Moral Monday” protests last year, said part of fixing the issue is revenue solutions that target those who can afford it, rather than those who can’t.

“Gov. Rauner and Speaker Madigan must put the interests of people and the environment first by raising revenue from big corporations and the rich to invest in the common good. Specifically, we call on them to raise $12 billion annually by passing the LaSalle Street Tax and the progressive income tax, and by closing corporate tax loopholes.”

The Grassroots Collaborative, which also supports those measures, released a report today detailing what it calls a “People’s Agenda”; that also states that Illinois doesn’t invest enough in itself through public services which could help bolster the economy. “Right now, families are hurting all across Illinois,” said Amisha Patel, Executive Director of the Grassroots Collaborative, in a press release. “For over a decade, the state of Illinois has been disinvesting from the vital public services needed to provide opportunity to low and middle income families, create jobs, and bolster the Illinois economy.”

According to the report, Illinois is the 13th wealthiest state and has the 5th largest economy, but ranks 47th in spending on education, healthcare, public safety, and human services. Since 2002 however, the state has cut 25 percent from these services, which has in turn increased not only poverty statewide, but contributed to massive income inequality. The report points to a study by the Heartland Alliance that shows poverty increased from 10.7 percent to 14.7 percent, and in communities of color, that number is much higher.

Another large contributing factor to the budget crisis was allowing the state’s income tax rate to roll back the report says. The combination of this divestment and the rollback exacerbated the budget crisis, which has disproportionately affected low-income people due to the state’s flat tax system. The poorest residents in Illinois currently pay 13.2 percent of their income in taxes, while the top 1 percent pay 4.6 percent. The Civic Federation has called for the state income tax to be bumped back up from 3.75 to 5 percent while the Grassroots Collaborative, Fair Economy Illinois and other groups have called for Illinois to switch it’s tax code to a graduated one.

The Responsible Budget Coalition, an amalgamation of 250 social service agencies, unions and other groups says Rauner needs to "choose revenue" Wednesday.

“We want to hear the governor say his No. 1 priority is a budget that invests in families and communities and that he won’t use them as leverage for his non-budget agenda," spokesperson Neal Waltmire told the Bloomington Pantagraph on Sunday.