Vote Yes Group Concedes On Progressive Income Tax Ballot Measure

From The Center Square:

By Brett Rowland

Vote Yes For Fairness conceded Wednesday after failing to secure enough votes to overhaul the state's tax code in a contest that broke spending records for ballot measures.

Vote Yes For Fairness Chairman Quentin Fulks said opponents of the progressive income tax measure will have to answer for what happens next.

“We are undoubtedly disappointed with this result but are proud of the millions of Illinoisans who cast their ballots in support of tax fairness in this election," he said in a statement. “Illinois is in a massive budget crisis due to years of a tax system that has protected millionaires and billionaires at the expense of our working families, a crisis that was only made worse by the Coronavirus pandemic."

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire Chicago Democrat, spent more than $50 million with the group to try to persuade voters to pass the measure. Fulks blamed Republicans for the the state's budget troubles, which had persisted for decades despite Democratic control of the state legislature.

"Republican legislators and their billionaire allies who brought us the dysfunction and pain of the [Gov. Bruce] Rauner years continue to stand in the way of common sense solutions, choosing instead to play partisan games and deceive the working families of our state," Fulks said. "Now lawmakers must address a multi-billion dollar budget gap without the ability to ask the wealthy to pay their fair share. Fair Tax opponents must answer for whatever comes next.”

Democratic state Rep. Michael Madigan has been House speaker for all but two years since 1983. Rauner served one four-year term after 12 consecutive years of Democratic governors.

The progressive income tax amendment would have scrapped the state's constitutionally protected flat tax in favor of a graduated income tax structure that would have higher tax rates for higher earners. If it had been approved, the higher rates proposed by Pritzker were projected to raise more than $3 billion for the state's coffers. He has made the progressive income tax the centerpiece of his agenda and the current state budget, which will now need to be amended.

Illinois has had a flat rate since the income tax was instituted in 1969. The existing flat rate is 4.95 percent. The Illinois Constitution requires any income tax be imposed at a single rate for all individual taxpayers, regardless of income level. Illinois is one of eight states that has a flat rate tax.

Business groups and business owners had opposed the amendment, saying it would be a jobs killer. Labor unions supported it.

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