There are 5 million reasons why the push for a graduated income tax — honest, it’ll only whack rich people — just got more muscular. That’s how many dollars Gov. J.B. Pritzker is giving a committee created to persuade Illinois voters that a constitutional amendment enabling graduated rates would be a swell idea.
The governor’s donation could be a play to shock and awe opponents of taking more billions of dollars from taxpayers. Or it could signal that proponents worry that, come November, voters will reject the Pritzker Tax. Whatever the motive, $5 million buys a lot of TV spots and internet pop-ups for what the governor calls his Fair Tax.
But the subtext of every request for your vote is that you should trust present and future Springfield politicians to keep this much-stated promise: Taxes would rise only for the highest-income 3%; the rest of us would get teensy tax cuts. But as you encounter Democratic primary election candidates, ask them: You’ll guarantee me that Springfield wouldn’t also spike tax rates on middle-class taxpayers for how long, exactly?
All but the hopelessly gullible can see that this envisioned extra $3 billion a year from the fat cats is just a first grab. The big money is further down the income ladder. Yet Democrats have to keep asking for voters’ trust that they’ll spare the middle class — despite the sorry history that animates this series of editorials: “When taxpayers trust Springfield, here’s what happens.”
Better for the tax hike proponents to admit that lawmakers chronically break these pledges — and chronically pretend that this time will be different. To help proponents of the Pritzker Tax come clean about that, we’ve composed advertising copy they can use in a $5 million ad campaign titled “Would we ever break a promise to you?”
‘Toll free in ’73!’
Sure, we Springfield pols promised voters a half-century ago that Illinois tollways would be freeways when toll revenue retired the construction bonds. Nice motto, “Toll free in ’73!” But what does that have to do with promising to leave middle-class taxpayers untouched. This time, you can trust us.
‘A state lottery will benefit schoolchildren!’
We never said in the 1970s that this wouldn’t be a shell game, did we? So what if we spent the lottery proceeds on education but moved a similar amount of education money to other spending? Clever ruse, huh? This time, you can trust us.
‘It’s just a temporary income tax increase, Part 1: Only a 20% surcharge!’
Give us some credit: It took us four years to trash that 1989 promise and make the whole increase permanent. But really, our graduated rates will only gouge The 3%. This time, you can trust us.
‘Casino gamblers can’t blow the rent money!’
That was so quaint, the promise in 1990 that our big casino authorization law would limit gamblers to a $500 loss per casino visit. OK, it didn’t wind up in the bill, but everyone thought it was there. This time, you can trust us.
‘No more $15 billion pension liability!’
Sure, we told you in 1994 that our new payment scheme would defuse an unfunded liability that Gov. Jim Edgar called “a time bomb.” Then we spent money we should have invested in pensions on other stuff. You liked that popular spending and gave us your votes. Fair trade, yes? Never mind that we’ve exploded the pension liability to $137 billion, unless you believe those Debbie Downers at Moody’s Investors Service who say your state pension debt is $240 billion. This time, you can trust us.
‘Wrong, Judy. College Illinois will pay for itself!’
House Speaker Michael Madigan helped push this Democratic pander to parents — a prepaid tuition plan guaranteed to be self-sustaining. So what if then-Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka warned that College Illinois couldn’t do its only job: absorb rising tuition costs. And so what if this dead-bang-loser will cost you taxpayers $501 million. This time, you can trust us.
‘Believe the governor: At most, a 1% tax hike!’
Just because Pat Quinn said in 2010 that he’d permit no personal income tax hike bigger than 1%, yet in 2011 signed into law a hike twice that high, you don’t think our current and future governors will protect The 97%? Don’t be cynical. This time, you can trust us.
‘It’s just a temporary tax increase, Part 2: We’ll fix Illinois …
Awright, Democratic leaders shouldn’t have declared on that night of infamy, 1/11/11, that a four-year, 67% income tax hike would “pay off our debt,” “pay the interest on that debt,” “pay our old bills” and “deal with the structural deficit.” Awright, we collected an extra $31 billion, and we broke those promises. This time, you can trust us.
… and we’ll freeze the income tax rate for 10 years!’
OK, Democrats wrote that 2011 law to partially roll back the income tax rate in 2015, then freeze it for 10 years and lower it to 3.25% in 2025? Except by 2017 we wanted more money, so we melted down our “frozen” rate of 3.75% and goosed it to 4.95%. Except now we want still more money but only from some richies. This time, you can trust us.
‘One more tax hike and we’ll deliver reforms!’
So what if a bunch of us promised in July 2017 that if you’d tolerate that 32% income tax hike to a 4.95% rate, we’d reform property taxes, pensions, tax credits, workers’ compensation. Yes we broke our earnest promises but hey, we really wanted to go home from Springfield. This time, you can trust us.
All these FBI agents? They’re just tourists.
We want your yes vote on our big tax plan and we’ll handle these new billions with integrity — no insider deals to benefit the political cronies who give us money and muscle for our reelection campaigns. So pay no mind to our unfolding scandals, like that federal allegation that a House member tried to bribe, um, a Senate member. You voters just need to reread “How a Bill Becomes a Law — Unabridged Illinois Edition.” As for these search warrants, raids and secret recordings, move along, there’s nothing to see here. This time, you can trust us.
Futile task, asking Illinois voters to trust the promises of Springfield politicians who’ve suffered no consequence for … all their broken promises. We don’t blame Pritzker for trying; he’s new in town. We do wish he’d embrace the wisdom of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot: You can ask citizens for more money if you’ve streamlined and reformed governance.
But Illinois Democrats don’t talk about restructuring how state government operates. They talk about how much more money they need to prop it all up. Remember that when proponents of this taxing amendment scream that there’ll be crisis after crisis if voters don’t cave and approve it.
One solution obvious to everyone who isn’t in the pocket of public employees unions is to offer voters a second constitutional amendment — to preserve retirement benefits already earned by pubic employees, but to allow a reduction of benefits awarded in the future. Legislators have until May to put that amendment, too, on the November ballot.
As is, though, the oft-chumped people of Illinois have no smart option but to examine all these busted promises and understand that if Illinois allows graduated income tax rates, Springfield pols will find plenty of reasons to raise taxes not only on The 3%, but on big chunks of The 97%, too.
The one thing you truly can trust this time: Illinois politicians won’t reinvent and reform government until voters force them to reinvent and reform. Make your 2020 resolution now: I’ve looked at Springfield’s record — and I’m voting No.
Editorials reflect the opinion of the Editorial Board, as determined by the members of the board, the editorial page editor and the publisher.
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