Author: Dave Rathke

Taxes are the way states pay for services provided in areas such as K-12 education, higher education, health care, care to the elderly and disabled, road repair, infrastructure and a host of other services.

The economic recession has resulted in lower tax revenues due to lost jobs, reduced wages and lowered economic activity.

Meanwhile, as people lose jobs, suffer a loss in income and experience the impact of economic distress, there is a greater need for the services provided by state.

Illinois and 47 other states face budget shortfalls due to declining tax revenues and an increasing demand for services. Nearly all states have cut spending. Thirty states also have opted for a balanced approach that includes raising taxes.

Taxes and spending cuts are not good or bad. They are simply tools used by a state to address its budget shortfall. While Illinois is using spending cuts, its failure to increase tax revenues leaves our state with an “unbalanced” approach.

Gov. Pat Quinn’s tax proposals seem to move in the direction of more balance while Sen. Bill Brady, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, has called only for more cuts. That approach takes a bad situation and makes it more imbalanced.

IEA-recommended gubernatorial primary candidate Dan Hynes has made a progressive income tax the cornerstone of his campaign.

A progressive tax means the bigger your income, the higher percentage of it you pay to the state. The theory behind a progressive tax is that it places the burden of the tax on those who are most able to pay it.

Currently in Illinois, the tax structure takes a higher percentage of income from the poorest Illinoisans and a lower percentage from the richest in the state. This is because money is collected from a flat income tax, sales and excise taxes and property taxes, which collectively add up to a larger percentage of a poor person’s paycheck than a rich person’s.

As former NEA President Reg Weaver used to remind us: “If you’re trying to raise revenue by taxing poor people, it won’t work for one obvious reason. Poor people don’t have any money!”

Vote on Feb. 2.