Walsh and Three Colleagues Diss Dems’ 67% Income Tax Hike

Rep. Walsh Asks Governor Quinn to Address Challenges Facing Small Businesses and Illinoisans

Sends Letter Today with Members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation

WASHINGTON – Congressman Joe Walsh (IL-08) along with Members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation – Reps. Don Manzullo (IL-16), John Shimkus (IL-19), and Bobby Schilling (IL-17) – sent a letter (letter attached) to Governor Pat Quinn conveying how hard it is for their constituents to live and work in Illinois.

The letter from four Illinois Republican Congressmen to Gov. Pat Quinn. Click to enlarge.

The letter details how the state’s budgetary issues have led to higher income taxes on families and higher corporate taxes on businesses.

“Higher taxes are not the answer to end the hemorrhaging of jobs in Illinois,” said Congressman Walsh.

“Illinoisans are tired of years of poor job creation and new taxes that are taking more and more of their hard-earned pay.”

“That is why I, along with several of my colleagues from the Illinois delegation, sent this letter to our governor.

“I hear every day from my constituents how difficult it has become to run a business and raise a family here – and higher taxes are not the answer.”

“While the state budget is certainly a mess and budget deficits continue to occur each fiscal year, we need to look at different ways to cut government costs and expand the tax base.

“We face very similar issues on the federal level and hope Governor Quinn will consider working with us to soon address these serious challenges.”

Here’s the text of the letter:

As Members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation, we write to you today because Illinois is facing challenges that must be addressed.

Since January of this year, our state has lost a total of 89,000 jobs. Our unemployment rate in the State of Illinois has risen for the third straight month in a row. We cannot stand by and watch these numbers get even worse – and we cannot let more jobs slip away to other states that have a more pro-business environment.

We hear from constituents every day about just how hard it is to live and work in our state. Whether it is the small business owner struggling to find capital to reinvest in their venture or the parent who is seeing more of their income taxed to pay for budget deficits, Illinoisans are tired of more taxes, regulations, and uncertainty.

As Members of Congress overseeing a vast federal budget that itself is in the red, we certainly understand the difficulty in trying to solve budgetary issues. However, raising individual income taxes by 66 percent will only exacerbate our wider problem and take more Illinois residents off the tax roll when they leave our state. Middle class families are already stretched thin. A family of four earning $60,000 a year right now has an additional $1,040 to pay in taxes each year.  We understand this might not seem like much but for the families in our districts this is money that they cannot afford to lose.

The largest employers in the state of Illinois are struggling too. Illinois has the third highest corporate tax rate in the country and this takes away from their competitive edge and ability to create new jobs. Many of our large employers based in Illinois could leave as a result of the new 9 percent corporate tax rate that was raised from 6.8 percent in January. These are critical jobs that must be protected. We are willing to work with you on this issue as similar measures are considered right now in Congress.

We ask that you immediately look at measures that can help Illinois families and small businesses. This can be done through lower taxes, less regulations, and a balanced state budget. America needs to know that Illinois is serious about job creation and that this is the best place to raise a family and start a business – and we want to work with you in any way we can to do this.

Sincerely,

Joe Walsh, Member of Congress

  •  Don Manzullo, Member of Congress
  •  Bobby Schilling,  Member of Congress
  •  John Shimkus, Member of Congress

All Illinois Members of Congress were given the opportunity to sign this letter.

Edward McClelland, author of “Young Mr. Obama: Chicago and the Making of a Black President” and NBC’s “Ward Room” criticized the four “busybodies”:

NBC's Ward Room criticized Joe Walsh for offering advice on state government policy.

“Aren’t Republicans against the federal government sticking its nose into the states’ business?”Federalism and the 10th Amendment have been popular themes in this month’s GOP presidential debates, as Republicans insist President Obama is out of line by imposing his health care plan on states that would rather allow the uninsured to die.

“We elect congressmen to run the country.

“We elected Pat Quinn to run the state.

“He doesn’t give advice to Congress, and he doesn’t need advice from congressmen, either.”

I seem to remember that Illinois maintains a lobbying operation in Washington, D.C. Perhaps they don’t talk to Congressmen, but I’ll bet they do.


Comments

Walsh and Three Colleagues Diss Dems’ 67% Income Tax Hike — 5 Comments

  1. The communists in the state would like it if the citizens would just keep their mouths shut. The communists think they know best.

    Joe Walsh is still a resident of Illinois and as a resident has every right to voice his opinion on what is being done that effects him and his family. Heritage Action scorecard has Joe Walsh with a grade of 94% in the 112th Congress. Joe Walsh has voted correctly to support the Constitution.
    Heritage Action grades senators and congressmen on how they vote to promote freedom, opportunity, prosperity and a civil society. It seems to me that our state would be better with Joe Walsh as governor than the person that is governor now. Hultgren has a score of 72% and Dick Durbin has a score of 0%

  2. Funny how the Fourth reich members like Manzero and the teabaglicans favorite deadbeat dad have no problem complaining about this yet shriek and moan at the prospect of their johns err corporate masters errr “donors” not being able to destroy the environment with impunity.

  3. Cal,
    Thanks for your excellent reporting of current issues. I’m tired of all the half truths that are reported via the news media. Keep up the good work.

  4. Regardless of Joe’s family status…the cold harsh reality is the actions of Pat Quinn have placed Illinois at the precipace of absolute failure. If we lose the CBOT and Catipillar (we have already lost 100’s of jobs here in CL) due to the income tax policy imposed while State raises were delt out….there is a public that should be enraged There is a public that should RISE UP and take this state back………….That sucking sound we are hearing is the sound of jobs vacating this state

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