State Senator Dale Righter (R-55th District) and State Representative Darren Bailey (R-109th District) were in town last Monday night to speak to local citizens at the Illinois Patriots’ meeting about Governor Pritzker’s tax plan, pending legislation, and how voters can get involved. Representative Bailey was a co-sponsor of the event.
Bailey ran his recent race on “getting Springfield in order” as “it is a cesspool.” “Illinois has a spending problem with no ideas for reform,” he stated. He recently sat on appropriation committees for education and human services and said that, when looking at the numbers available to spend, some of the members were mad.
“To work within our means would mean a 10% cut across the board,” he stated. “I contend there is a moral majority in Southern Illinois, but for some reason they are staying home at elections.”
“The other side has good hearts. They want to give, but they don’t want to give their stuff; they want to give your stuff,” Bailey continued. He said Illinois can’t afford the minimum $40,000 wage for teachers that has been proposed. Bailey said he has a growing social media presence on Twitter and Facebook. Follow him on Twitter at @DarrenBailey109 and on Facebook at State Representative Darren Bailey.
State Senator Dale Righter had things to share about the proposal to change the way income is taxed in Illinois.
“The question in Springfield is this: should it be easier for state government to raise taxes?” He then went on to state, “Over the last 20 years, on 24 occasions, states with graduated tax rates have raised taxes and dropped the income threshold that is subject to the highest tax rate, to below $100,000. They (the politicians) are already lowering the income threshold before passage even happens.”
“In flat tax states (of which Illinois is currently one), on only four occasions did taxes go up and 21 times, taxes have been cut. The citizens will get to vote on this in the 2020 election,” Righter concluded.
Andrew Nelms of the Americans for Prosperity, a group he says advocates for free market economic policies, which is sort of like “pushing water uphill in Illinois.”
“Since 2013, moving company United Van Lines says we are the second highest state in migration. We are always in competition with New Jersey for that top slot, another state plagued by high property taxes and pension debt,”
After listing all of the natural resources and business activity Illinois has to offer, Nelms stated, “If Illinois was a stand alone country, our economy would be among the top 20 on the globe. In 2017, the state’s GDP value of goods and services was $750 billion. We at Americans for Prosperity believe we must restore Illinois to its rightful place as the economic engine of the Midwest, but giving our chronically fiscally irresponsible legislature, present company excluded, a blank check is not the solution.”
“If Springfield politicians were to be given greater tax power, all taxpayers will face greater uncertainty, because it’s likely the politicians would almost immediately increase rates, add brackets and reduce the thresholds at which higher rates apply. The graduated income tax would have a disastrous effect on Illinois small business owners. “Recent events highlight the concern of ours that politicians will begin to add rates and reduce thresholds at which the higher rates apply, because that’s exactly what happened… the governor’s initial proposal included a top individual and corporate tax rate of 7.95% that kicked in at $1 million. But by the time it reached the Senate floor, they had reduced that threshold by 1/4 million dollars and also increased the top rate. It’s likely the pattern will continue and affect the middle class.
“I think it would be myopic to support any graduated income tax proposal in exchange for handing the legislature a blank check with the likelihood of higher taxes in the near future,” Nelms concluded.
The speakers held a question and answer session following their presentations. The crowd was numbered at approximately 75.
