{"id":528954,"date":"2010-04-15T17:42:08","date_gmt":"2010-04-15T21:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c60fd53ef01347fe6bdee970c"},"modified":"2010-04-15T18:12:47","modified_gmt":"2010-04-15T22:12:47","slug":"republican-governor-candidate-whacks-quinn-on-tax-hike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/528954","title":{"rendered":"Republican governor candidate whacks Quinn on tax hike"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted by Ray Long and Michelle Manchir<\/em> at 4:41 p.m.; updated at 5:14 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

SPRINGFIELD \u2014 Gov. Pat Quinn defended his proposed income tax hike today, even as Repbulican governor challenger Bill Brady launched a Web site attempting to rally political anger against the idea.<\/p>\n

The contrast on taxes unfolded on April 15, the deadline to file income tax returns and get squared up with the government.\n<\/p>\n

Brady, a state senator from Bloomington, unveiled StopThePatQuinnTax.com, his latest maneuver to highlight the
\ncontrast between Quinn\u2019s quest for an income tax increase to help
\nbalance the state\u2019s out-of-whack books and Brady’s outright
\n opposition to the governor\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe purpose of this endeavor is to help Gov. Quinn understand that the citizens of Illinois are sick and tired of politicians who continue to dip into their pockets,\u201d Brady said.
<\/br>
<\/br>At a separate event, Quinn defended his tax plan, saying it is \u201cvery important\u201d to provide adequate money for education in budget year that begins July 1. Quinn has proposed a $1.3 billion cut in education if lawmakers don\u2019t approve an income tax increase.
<\/br>
<\/br>The Senate approved a 66 percent income tax rate increase last year, but the legislation is going nowhere in the House, where even a temporary 50 percent income tax rate hike proposal failed last year.
<\/br>
<\/br>\u201cIt is something that I\u2018ve spoken to legislators individually about as well as their leaders,\u201d Quinn said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re going to work hard on that in the next seven weeks.\u201d
<\/br>
<\/br>The \u201cseven weeks\u201d comment suggests Quinn is prepared to press the legislature for the tax hike through the end of May even though Democratic leaders, Speaker Michael Madigan and President John Cullerton, both of Chicago, have plans to leave the Capitol by May 7.
<\/br><\/p>\n

Any roll call on a tax hike after May 31 would require a three-fifths vote to pass, a level that\u2019s virtually impossible to reach in an election year.<\/p>\n

Brady\u2019s appearance on the deadline day for filing state and federal taxes also put him in the awkward position of defending his decision to keep his income tax return private. Releasing tax returns is not required of governors or their challengers, but many candidates do in the interest of transparency.
<\/br>
<\/br>A businessman and developer, Brady said he would not release his returns even though he did that in a prior bid for office.\u00a0 He maintained the state’s legally required but less-detailed economic interest statements give citizens \u201cfull disclosure of all my business interests.\u201d
<\/br>
<\/br>Quinn\u2019s campaign seized on Brady\u2019s reluctance to give the public a glimpse of personal tax information, but would not release the governor\u2019s tax returns today. Quinn spokeswoman Mica Matsoff said the governor would make his returns public and said citizens deserve to see Brady\u2019s tax information too. Quinn did release his tax returns last year nearly a week after the April 15 filing deadline.
<\/br>
<\/br>One thing Brady and Quinn appeared to agree on was praise for the Tea Party movement for its grass-roots appeal, though Quinn was more tepid. Rallies were held in Chicago and the suburbs today.
<\/br>
<\/br>Brady said tea party supporters are more likely to support his views, noting they are looking for the \u201csame clean break from the politics of the past.\u201d
<\/br>
<\/br>\u201cThey\u2019re looking for a citizen democracy government,\u201d Brady said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I stand for. So I think we\u2019re well aligned.\u201d
<\/br>
<\/br>In between the Brady-Quinn tax squabble, Cullerton called on the House to approve a dollar-a-pack hike on the state cigarette tax that the Senate already has approved.
<\/br>
<\/br>Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, D-Evanston, said the $279 million in new revenue that could be generated by the tax hike could be turned into nearly a billion dollars for health care if Illinois took advantage of federal Medicaid reimbursement rates now in place.
<\/br>
<\/br>Even though the state could get a great return from the federal government, Cullerton said, many lawmakers are wary of voting for any new tax in an election year.
<\/br>
<\/br>Rep. Karen Yarbrough, D-Chicago, the House sponsor, said she needs to sway about 10 votes to pass the bill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted by Ray Long and Michelle Manchir at 4:41 p.m.; updated at 5:14 p.m. SPRINGFIELD \u2014 Gov. Pat Quinn defended his proposed income tax hike today, even as Repbulican governor challenger Bill Brady launched a Web site attempting to rally political anger against the idea. The contrast on taxes unfolded on April 15, the deadline […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3992,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-528954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3992"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528954\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}