Illinois Democrats have been lying about taxes. Back in November, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) promised not to pass a tax increase without Republican support. Yet not a single Republican in either the House or Senate joined the 90 Democrats who passed Tuesday’s income tax increase.
While campaigning for votes, Gov. Quinn lied, saying he supported a 1% increase in the income tax when he was really talking about a 33% increase, from a 3% to 4% rate. Yet the bill awaiting Quinn’s signature is an astounding 67% increase in the personal income tax.
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CRYSTAL LAKE–A new report by pension researcher Bill Zettler reveals that many McHenry County retired government employees receive lavish, gold-plated pensions that far exceed average annual wages of workers in the private sector.
“These government-employee pensions are bankrupting the state pension funds,” said Jim Tobin, President of National Taxpayers United of Illinois (NTUI). “Gov. Patrick Quinn (D) just raised the state personal income tax 67% to pump taxpayer dollars into the state’s floundering pension programs.”
Jim Tobin speaks about McHenry County’s sky-high pensions at McHenry County College on Wednesday, January 12, 2011.
CHICAGO—”The one-dollar-a-pack cigarette tax increase passed last year in the State Senate, S.B. 44, would raise the Illinois cigarette tax to $1.98 and fall most heavily on low-income and minority residents of Illinois,” said Jim Tobin, President of National Taxpayers United of Illinois (NTUI), “and would be used to fund the gold-plated pensions of state politicians and state and local government employees.”
“High taxes on items such as cigarettes encourage people to shop across state lines where taxes are lower,” said Tobin, “placing Illinois at a competitive disadvantage to the surrounding states of Missouri ($ .17 tax), Kentucky ($ .60), Indiana ($ .99), and Iowa ($1.36).”
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