Governor J.B. Pritzker is promising no income tax hikes as part of a proposed 83 billion dollar Illinois fiscal year 2022 budget. Pritzker shared his budget proposal in an address Wednesday, saying he hopes to generate over 41-billion dollars to offset the state’s deficit by closing corporate tax loopholes. Republican lawmakers responded with criticism that Pritzker is backpedaling on tax incentives promised in 2019.
State Representative Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) issued the following statement in response to Governor JB Pritzker’s Budget and State of the State address: “Today, Governor Pritzker broke his promise to Illinois working families. In 2019, Republicans and Democrats worked together to pass the Blue Collar Jobs Act as part of a bipartisan budget and infrastructure plan. Now the Governor is going back on his word, proving once again that he cannot be trusted. Illinois has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs since the start of this pandemic, due in large part to the Governor’s rule-by-executive-order. Gov. Pritzker shut down our economy, forcing many small businesses to lay off employees or close for good. Given the massive job losses and the Governor’s utter failure to fix the unemployment benefits disaster at IDES, it is unconscionable for him to now eliminate important job creation incentives that are desperately needed to revitalize our economy.
“The revenue increases that the Governor is proposing are just another attempt by him to raise taxes on thousands of small businesses across Illinois. The Governor’s plan to hit small businesses with a nearly $1 billion tax hike threatens our economic recovery and will result in more job losses for Illinois families.” A colleague of mine recently said, ‘The best stimulus check is a good-paying job.’ The last thing the Governor should be doing is taking away job creation incentives. “After a year of business closures, job losses, IDES failures and the tragic deaths of our veterans in the State’s care, we heard nothing today about how the Governor’s budget works for the people of Illinois. What we did hear was an attempt to dress up a budget to impress the bond houses.”
State Representative Dan Swanson (R-Alpha) issued the following statement following Governor Pritzker’s Budget Address today: “The Governor’s proposed budget continues to place the burden of our financial mess on job creators and small businesses— those who have limited means to grow us out of this mess due to the impact of the Governor’s Executive Orders and anti-jobs policies,” said Swanson.
“The Blue Collar Jobs Act – which provides a credit on wages paid for construction projects– is most beneficial to underserved communities. Sadly, the Governor froze this program at the start of this year,” Swanson continued. “The Governor’s budget proposal contains nearly $1 billion in new taxes on job creators across Illinois. The message I hear time and again is that people are getting taxed out of our beloved state. Changing the rules on employers with punishing tax policies is the worst way to grow jobs in the West Central Illinois communities I represent. We must take steps to keep people and jobs in our state and I did not hear enough talk of how that is reflected in the Governor’s budget proposal. Instead, job creators are seeing Pritzker as far more of an adversary than a partner.”
Swanson went on to talk about values House Republicans would like to see reflected in this year’s State Budget, including, “reduced spending, making the full state pension payment, and no new taxes and fees. I will hold the Governor to his commitment for ethics reform in the state legislature,” Swanson concluded, commenting on the Governor calling out this issue as receiving unacceptable progress.
State Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) released the following statement after Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivered a combined State of the State/Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Address to a joint session of legislators Feb. 17 via the Internet. “The Governor really should have skipped the State of the State portion of his speech. After nearly a year of COVID-19, it’s no secret that times are tough. And the Budget Address portion of the Governor’s speech clearly does not reflect the reality of an Illinois economy ravaged by government-ordered shutdowns and its residents struggling mightily to make ends meet.Gov. Pritzker must realize that by continuing to run Illinois solely by Executive Order, he must also take responsibility for the state’s current economic conditions. Government-imposed shutdowns have decimated the small-business community, and it’s the state’s job to help create a landscape for them to rebuild rather than impose new taxes on them.Lawmakers have not been allowed a voice but we must have more information. We need to be able to ask the tough questions about the constitutionality of a budget with a $1.7 billion shortfall that relies on $1.5 billion in projected savings,much of which would come at the expense of our businesses. Where is the equity in repealing nearly $1 billion in business incentives, including the Blue Collar Jobs Act? Why is money that has been promised for much-needed infrastructure updates and improvements being delayed by a year? Is it any surprise that businesses continue to flee Illinois, taking thousands of jobs with them? I am a strong proponent of all government officials working together to find bipartisan solutions to our state’s problems. My fellow lawmakers and I stand ready to work WITH the Governor to make the tough decisions necessary to pass a balanced budget with the business and government reforms needed to boost the state’s economy and jobs.”
Fiscal Year 2022 runs from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022.
