April 14, 2014
By Kerry Lester
STL
FILE – In this April 1, 2014 file photo, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, listens to lawmakers during a House committee hearing at the Capitol in Springfield, Ill. Faced with an expected $3 billion budget hole from an expiring income tax increase, Illinois lawmakers are grappling with whether to raise taxes to avoid major cuts to schools and social services next year. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File)
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. • Faced with an expected $3 billion budget hole from an expiring income tax increase, Illinois lawmakers are grappling with whether to raise taxes to avoid major cuts to schools and social services next year.
With six weeks left in the spring session, Democrats must weigh the political risks of extending a tax hike in a year Republicans are making streamlined government spending a focal point in their campaigns for governor and legislative seats.
Lawmakers could make the 2011 temporary income tax increase permanent or change the state’s tax code from a “flat” tax, where everyone pays the same rate, to a progressive system, which taxes higher earners more.
House Speaker Michael Madigan last week abandoned a third proposal that he’d floated, to boost education funding by tacking a 3 percent surcharge on all earned income over $1 million. Madigan couldn’t get enough votes to push his plan through the House, despite a Democratic supermajority of 71 members.
Beyond the partisan divide, the Democratic caucuses in the House and Senate face internal battles.
“Outsiders think that as a Democratic majority we’re monolithic,” said state Rep. Jack Franks of Marengo, who was one Democratic vote against the millionaires tax, and is opposed to the other two tax proposals as well.
All 118 state representatives and 19 of 59 state senators are seeking re-election.