McHenry Times

Last month Gov. J.B. Pritzker proposed a budget for fiscal year 2023 amounting to $112.5 billion, with $45.5 billion in spending from the state’s general fund.

Republicans like Sen. Dan McConchie (R-Lake Zurich) were critical of the budget and the remarks Pritzker made in his State of the State address. McConchie said he was appreciative of some items Pritzker touched upon, saying trying to get the fiscal house in order was a good thing, but he did have other issues.

“One of the things I have real concern about is the fact that the governor is proposing what appears to be about $2.5 billion in permanent government expansion while only providing $1 billion tax relief and only on a short-term basis, only for this next year,” McConchie said. “One of the things we are seeing is people are voting with their feet. More than 113,000 in the last year alone have decided to leave Illinois.”

McConchie said many residents are leaving due to the cost of living and high taxes. He said Pritzker appears to be hearing about this, but only providing a temporary relief.

“What we need is substantial long-term tax relief that makes it affordable for people to live here and affordable and desirable for people to move to Illinois again,” McConchie said. “I look forward to the debate in the coming weeks about this but really fixing our state means making it so the people want to move into the state, making it affordable for them to do so.”

The budget reportedly provides up to $1 billion in tax relief through the Illinois Family Relief Plan. It also includes freezing the gas tax, amounting to $135 million and dropping the 1% sales tax for a year, which totals $360 million. Another highlighted area is a spending increase of $350 million toward education. There are property tax rebates in the budget of up to $300 per homeowner, which could amount to $475 million.

“Right now, everyone is feeling the crunch of rising prices for goods and services,” Pritzker said. “The higher cost of even basic necessities is making it harder to make ends meet. Whether it’s supply chain interruptions or increasing oil prices, inflation is squeezing Illinois families. Government ought to do more to ease the pain and put more money back in the pockets of hardworking Illinoisans. Our budget success gives us the opportunity to do just that.”