MCHENRY — McHenry County Board Member Charles Wheeler (R-McHenry) is concerned that Illinois will face a mass exodus if a graduated income tax system eventually replaces the state’s flat tax system.
On Tuesday, the Illinois House voted 61-52 to endorse HR 1025.
“I strongly reject a progressive tax,” Wheeler said. “[I] feel it would only accelerate the exodus of the type [of] citizens [that] Illinois needs, while, at the same time, attracting citizens that will further exacerbate the financial burden our state cannot afford.”
J.B. Pritzker, the billionaire Democratic candidate for governor, is backing the progressive tax amendment and has made it a campaign priority. To alter the current tax system, a constitutional amendment is needed, and 2020 is the earliest that voters can expect to have a say in the matter.
“I support the voters being able to decide by constitutional amendment any tax increase and would urge voters to reject it,” Wheeler said.
Why?
“The state needs to live within its means by cutting spending before raising taxes,” he said.
Illinois’ current flat tax system calls for everyone to pay 4.95 percent. A progressive tax would force individuals in higher tax brackets to pay a higher percentage.
Replacing pensions with 401(k) retirement plans is one alternative that Wheeler said he would support.
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in May 2015 that pensions can’t be altered for current government employees. In 2015, the state’s pension debt soared to a record $111 billion, and the debt grows by more than $20 million every day, according to Illinoispolicy.org.
“The pension crisis is paramount and all other issues are temp fixes, which only prolong the inevitable,” Wheeler said. “The only useful thing [that] we can do is to eliminate pensions and replace them with 401(k) type plans."
Wheeler said that it "would save the state of Illinois, if successful,” and perhaps keep a number of the state’s most wealthy from relocating to potentially more tax-friendly states.
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