Pritzker sends another $250K in taxpayer money to group pushing more taxes
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s budget includes $250,000 for a group advocating for increased government spending and higher taxes. He gave the group money last year, too.
Illinois lawmakers – meaning taxpayers – just cut a $250,000 check to a group pushing for higher taxes on Illinoisans.
The group also was handed $250,000 last year.
The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability has a contract from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which answers to Gov. J.B. Pritzker. The group backed Pritzker’s failed “fair tax” bid to replace Illinois’ flat state income tax rate with progressive rates lawmakers could change at will.
The group’s fix to Illinois’ unfunded pension liabilities is to ask for more from taxpayers when statewide pensions will already eat $11.57 billion this year, or about one-fifth of the state budget. Even that amount falls about $4.5 billion short of what is needed to tread water.
More money for pensions also translates to worse public services. Lawmakers have been diverting funding from services on which people rely while taking more in taxes.
Illinois’ higher education is a perfect example. Fiscal year 2024 included $4.47 billion for state universities. But $1.93 billion, or 43%, went to the State Universities Retirement System.
More money to SURS doesn’t improve the quality of education, and less money for operations means universities must raise tuition to cover costs. That is one reason why Illinoisans pay the fourth-highest in-state tuition in the nation.
Illinois voters have made it clear they pay enough for government. They rejected Pritzker’s progressive tax plan. Chicago voters recently rejected Mayor Brandon Johnson’s “Bring Chicago Home” referendum creating a progressive tax structure for real estate transfers.
Historically, high taxes have been the No. 1 reason Illinoisans considered moving out. Polling from NPR Illinois and the University of Illinois found 61% of Illinoisans thought about moving out of state in 2019, and the No. 1 reason was taxes.
To a politician ignoring the votes and the moving vans, using $500,000 of other people’s money to support a group claiming more taxes and spending can fix Illinois’ major problems might seem like a wise expenditure. To the Illinoisan who must work for that money, it’s an affront.