State Representative Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City) today is issuing the following statement on the Governor’s Budget Address.
The idea that this budget is balanced is laughable. Here we have a Governor with a straight face telling us that even though we have a $3.5 billion budget hole and even though we have $8 billion in unpaid bills – we still can have a balanced budget and even increase spending on the school funding formula and increase MAP grant funding.
If something sounds too good to be true – it usually is.
This is a fairytale budget built around promises of revenue from funding sources that don’t even exist yet. Recreational marijuana has not been legalized. Online sports betting has not been legalized.
We are in a huge financial mess because politicians like JB Pritzker propose these “pie in the sky” budget proposals based on revenue projections that are pure fantasy. The revenue projections may be fantasy, but the spending is very real. We can’t pay the bills we have now, and we are increasing spending?
We need to have revenue projections that are based on actual sources of revenue – not revenue sources yet to come. We also need to get serious about spending cuts, which is why I favor the idea of having a spending cap in Springfield.
We cannot continue to allow government growth to outpace our economic growth. We need a spending cap that ties the growth of government to a rolling average of economic growth. Hardworking families can’t outspend their incomes. Why should we allow this irresponsible behavior from our government?
Another part of the Governor’s speech revolved around the progressive income tax. This is code for a big tax increase on the people of Illinois. This tax is supposedly directed at the wealthiest Illinois residents.
Wealthy people can pick up and leave the state at any time. It is the poorest among us who cannot leave. Enacting a tax to target the rich is not going to work the way the Governor seems to think it will. It will be middle class families that will be hit the hardest by the progressive income tax.
Finally, we did not hear anything about reform today. Nothing about pension reform. Nothing about term limits. Nothing about business reforms such as workers’ compensation reform. Just more of the same policies that are bankrupting our state. -square