McHenry Times

Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee) has confidence in the numbers, which tell him Illinois doesn't have to raise taxes to balance its budget.

“The only people who want a tax hike are special interests," Skillicorn told Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson, hosts of Chicago’s "Morning Answer" radio show.  "Constituents don’t want it; taxpayers don’t want it; the people of Illinois do not want these massive tax hikes.” 

Proft is a principal of Local Government Information Services, which owns this publication.

State Representative Allen Skillicorn, (R-East Dundee) | http://www.ilga.gov/house/Rep.asp?MemberID=2497

As of Wednesday, Illinois lawmakers had three days to finish work on a compromise budget before the end of the special legislative session called by Gov. Bruce Rauner. Reports from Springfield indicate that a budget deal would most likely include Democrat-mandated tax hikes and GOP-required property tax reform.

Skillicorn said Republicans don’t want to increase taxes, but they don't have the General Assembly majority and are not negotiating from a position of strength; however, in a special session, approval requires a three-fifths majority, so GOP votes are required.

He argued that Republicans need to cut the fat from any budget proposal, including their own, which includes a substantial spending bill, according to the Illinois News Network.

“When I read that budget, and I read about that $169 million, and a quarter million dollars to the Village of St. Charles, and $65,000 for a Puerto Rican museum, I almost threw up in my mouth,” Skillicorn said.  “I can’t stand for it.  I was embarrassed to be a Republican when I read that.”

The Illinois Policy Institute and Sens. Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorne Woods) and Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon) have introduced balanced budget proposals without tax increases, and Skillicorn said he used their proposals as a framework for his own.

“I call it the ‘Right Now’ budget,'” Skillicorn said. “I spent the last month in Springfield adding up numbers and working late nights trying to figure out a budget, and the math is there.  If we implement reforms we can pass a balanced budget that doesn’t hike taxes.”