McHenry Times

State Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee) says he wishes lawmakers in Springfield had more in common with regular taxpayers when it comes to budgeting.

“No one in their home life bases their family budget on the possibility of pay increases” Skillicorn said in a press release following Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s much anticipated first budget address. “Most of us base our budgets on the money we know we have—not on the money we think we will have. To call this a balanced budget is laughable. It is more of the same tricks and gimmicks that have been hurting our state for a long time.”

With the state already facing a $3.2 billion deficit, the Chicago Tribune reports the new governor outlined a plan that would see Illinois invest more heavily in school funding, early childhood education and social services programs, with at least a portion of the funding for those additions coming from revenues generated from the legalization of marijuana and sports betting across the state. 

Gov. J.B. Pritzker

“The governor’s budget writes checks taxpayers simply can’t cash,” Skillicorn added in the release. “It spends too much and cuts too little. It is time we stop talking about how dire the budget is while at the same time finding new ways to spend money. Illinois residents understand there is a budget crisis, but what they don’t understand is why spending continues to go up despite the budget constraints. They want fiscal responsibility, and unfortunately all the governor seems to have to offer is more of the same bad policies that have been wrecking our state for decades.”

Skillicorn also took exception to the progressive state income tax Pritzker has been pushing since he was a candidate. 

“The progressive income tax is being sold as a tax on the rich, but rich people like J.B. Pritzker can move money to tax shelters in offshore accounts,” he said. “The rest of us are pretty much stuck paying these increased taxes. The experience of other states shows us that the progressive income hits all tax targets. In Missouri, people with incomes as low as just over $9,000 pay taxes in the highest tax brackets. People making $9,000 per year are hardly rich.”

With Moody’s Investors Services having already pegged the state’s pension liabilities as high as $250 billion, Skillicorn said, Pritzker is making the same mistake governors before him have—borrowing against those debts and essentially kicking the can further down the road.