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View Full Version : Will 75% tax hike fix Illinois budget mess?




tangent4ronpaul
01-08-2011, 05:17 AM
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-income-tax-politics-20110108,0,6313378.story

— Gov. Pat Quinn and his fellow top Democrats are pushing a huge income tax hike largely because the state's budget hole is enormous.

Set aside the sticker shock, though, and the lingering question that arises is whether this plan will finally fix Illinois' chronic money problems, taking Illinois from nationally renowned deadbeat to satisfactorily solvent.

Don't count on it.

For four years, the state might approach something like a truly balanced budget for the first time in a long time. Come year five, however, a large part of the tax increase is supposed to expire.

"If you don't control spending, then after four years, there's no question you'll have a big deficit," said Dan Long, executive director of the bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.

That's a big "if" in Springfield, given that many lawmakers at times appear allergic to financial restraint. Lawmakers have advanced a measure to limit spending on most programs. Perhaps it's telling that legislators think they need a law to hold spending down.

In case you missed it, the game plan is to raise the personal income-tax rate by 75 percent. It would jump from 3 percent to 5.25 percent for four years, then drop to either 3.75 percent or 4 percent, depending on which version of the plan is in vogue. The business tax rate also would go up, and smokers would kick in an extra buck a pack.

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So folks, expect a mass exodus from Illinois, and these former citizens will promptly set to work turning their new state into the next Illinois. Just like CA and MA's experiences.

-t

cindy25
01-08-2011, 06:25 AM
businesses will leave Illinois; expect those who can to start leaving before the ink is dry. the most productive will leave, the govt employees and other parasites will stay. just like Detroit.

MozoVote
01-08-2011, 07:17 AM
In all seriousness, default may be a better option than setting tax rates so high that it cripples the economy for a decade. The state would face very high interest rates after renegotiating its debts, but that'd be another incentive to stop borrowing so much.

oyarde
01-10-2011, 05:48 PM
No , it will not save them.