View as PDF Chicago—Last week, Illinois Senate President John J. Cullerton (D-Chicago) proposed legislation that would have established a new tax on Illinois drivers per miles traveled on the state’s roads, but a burst of public outrage and fierce opposition to the plan stalled Cullerton’s new tax for now. Taxpayers United of America (TUA) immediately led the charge against Cullerton’s driving tax, labeling the proposal blatant highway robbery of Illinois taxpayers.
“Taxpayers are outraged that Sen Pres. Cullerton, one of the most powerful politicians in Illinois, wants to extract more tax dollars from them while he and his colleagues in Springfield are currently misspending billions of dollars and intent on squandering billions more,” said Jared Labell, TUA’s director of operations. Labell appeared on numerous television stations denouncing Cullerton’s new driving tax, including WGN Chicago, KHQA 7 Quincy, Fox 2 St. Louis, & WQAD 8 Quad Cities.
By Friday afternoon, less than forty-eight hours after the story broke on April 13, widespread denunciation from the public led Cullerton to back off of his support for the measure, commenting on his official Facebook page, “Thank you to everyone for weighing in on ideas for how to fund road construction in Illinois. I filed legislation to start discussion and debate and get feedback on how the state could replace the gas tax. I’ve received a lot of constructive feedback that will help shape future policies. I do not intend to move forward with SB3267.”
The proposed Motor Fuel-IRIDE legislation, SB 3267, sought to monitor car odometer readings or install tracking devices in vehicles driving on Illinois roads to tax motorists per miles driven beginning July 1, 2017. Drivers would have been tracked and taxed per mile or had odometer readings checked under the proposal, or if the very real privacy violations concerned drivers, then there was an option to pay a 1.5-cent-per-mile tax at a base rate of 30,00 miles traveled annually, totaling $450. Yet another monstrous government administrative agency – the Illinois Road Improvement and Driver Enhancement Commission – would have been created to oversee the system, as well as an entire bureaucracy to implement and execute Cullerton’s highway robbery scheme.
“People still travel to work despite layers upon layers of local, state, and federal taxes,” said Labell. “With Illinois in its tenth month without a budget and Springfield politicians eyeing taxpayers for a bailout, Illinois drivers revolted against Sen. Pres. Cullerton’s new driving tax scheme and won. For the moment, at least, SB 3267 is stalled, but like most failed legislation in Illinois, if the politicians are trying to tax someone or something, there’s a good chance that the Illinois General Assembly will attempt to pass the tax another way or at a later time. Illinois taxpayers must remain vigilant to see that these proposals are soundly defeated for good.”
View as PDF Chicago – Taxpayers United of America (TUA) urges the Illinois General Assembly’s Appropriations-Elementary & Secondary Education Committee members to oppose HJRCA 57.
“We have written a letter to the members of the Appropriations-Elementary & Secondary Education Committee, urging them to vote against Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan’s proposed education funding constitutional amendment due to the dire financial implications for Illinois taxpayers,” said TUA director of operations, Jared Labell.
“The state pension funds are essentially a giant burn pit for taxpayer dollars, so approving this constitutional amendment will only further exacerbate the financial crisis without addressing the underlying systemic problems with government education in Illinois.”
- View TUA’s letter to the Appropriations-Elementary & Secondary Education Committee members
- View TUA’s recent analysis of the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS)
- View TUA’s recent analysis of the State Universities Retirement System (SURS)
“Illinois has recorded fourteen straight years of budget deficits and is facing a $10 billion budget deficit by this summer. The state has the lowest credit ratings and by far the worst-funded government pension system in the country,” said Labell. “Illinois taxpayers are not prepared to be obligated to send more of their hard-earned dollars to Springfield for reckless mismanagement and subsidizing a broken government education system.”
“Madigan’s proposed constitutional amendment is as absurd as the current text of Article X, Section 1 of the Illinois Constitution, as the constant references to ‘free education’ are totally bogus. Government education is funded by your tax dollars. In no way is it free. Taxpayers have a right to contest how much of their wealth is confiscated by the state, and even more importantly, challenge the state when it seeks to increase its misappropriation of funds,” concluded Labell.
Summary of HJRCA 57 – Proposes to amend Section 1 of Article X of the Illinois Constitution. Provides that a fundamental right (instead of goal) of the People of the State is the educational development of all persons to the limits of their capacities. Provides that it is the paramount duty of the State to provide for a thorough and efficient system of high quality public education institutions and services and to guarantee equality of educational opportunity as a fundamental right of each citizen (instead of requiring the State to provide for an efficient system of high quality public education institutions and services). Provides that the State has the preponderant financial responsibility (instead of the primary responsibility) for financing the system of public education. Effective upon being declared adopted in accordance with Section 7 of the Illinois Constitutional Amendment Act.
Taxpayers United of America’s (TUA) recent State University Retirement pension data analysis was mentioned by Madison Record.
Some state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle seem open to at least a few of the reform ideas recently proposed by an Illinois think tank to help reduce higher education costs and make colleges and universities more affordable to students in the state.
The state’s university systems and community colleges have had to slash budgets and reduce class offerings since last summer’s state budget impasse began. In turn, the Illinois Policy Institute has issued a call for structural reforms, including a freeze and an eventual reduction in tuition costs, cuts in administrative personnel and their perks, and efforts to steer employees in higher education into less costly 401K-type retirement plans.
Both Republicans and Democrats also agree that the loss of the Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants for Illinois college students has been especially disruptive to the higher education system.
“The lack of MAP grants are killing all the colleges,” Rep. Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) told the Madison County Record.
The MAP program in the previous budget funded nearly 8,000 grants for Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, amounting to $30.3 million; McKendree University received 707 grants for a total of $2.8 million; Lewis and Clark Community College, 539 grants totaling $527,104; and Southwestern Illinois College, 1,402 grants for a total of $1.1 million.
Republicans have argued for a dedicated funding stream for higher education and generally reject the idea of having to borrow from the following year’s budget to pay for current programs.
Sen. Bill Haine (D-Alton) said he supports exploring options for tuition stability for college and university students, but he said in recent years, the main upward push on tuition has been the drop in state support for universities.
“As the state has cut higher education, the campuses have largely turned to students to make up the difference,” Haine stated in an email to the Record.
Meier said he wasn’t sure if the state could afford a freeze on tuition costs, but he expressed openness to the idea of having new employees in the higher education systems moved into 401K plans rather than the current pension system.
“We must keep our promises to current employees but look at what we can do differently from this day forward,” the Republican lawmaker said.
Haine agreed that such a transition toward a 401K plan would have to apply only to new employees.
“I’d be interested in seeing an analysis of what the start-up costs would be for switching to a different system,” he said.
Haine also said that the issue of higher education administrative salaries and perks had been examined by an Illinois Senate investigative subcommittee last year.
“The subsequent report continues to drive reforms that I have supported,” he said.
Meier pointed to excessive pensions that are now being paid to those who have retired from the higher education systems in Illinois.
According to a study conducted by Taxpayers United of America, the 25 highest-paid pensioners in the State Universities Retirement System are receiving between $190,000 and $570,000 annually.
“Everything is falling in around us, and we have to change,” Meier said. “We need to be actively working on a budget. It’s taken 33 years to get to this point.”
Though he hopes that legislators and the governor can reach a compromise soon, Meier is not overly optimistic, arguing that Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) does not seem to be interested in straightening things out.
Haine expressed an upbeat attitude about the prospects for compromise.
“I remain optimistic that other lawmakers and Gov. (Bruce) Rauner will realize how crucial higher education is to our state’s economy and that we will find common ground in the near future.”
