David McSweeney
State Rep. David McSweeney has introduced a resolution that states the belief that the Illinois Income Tax Act should not be amended to permit taxing retirement income.
The 31 signing onto the idea follow:
Rep. David McSweeney – Brandon W. Phelps – Jeanne M Ives – Martin J. Moylan – Mark Batinick, Margo McDermed, Steven Andersson, Jack D. Franks, Sue Scherer, Deborah Conroy, Jerry F. Costello, II, Anna Moeller, Katherine Cloonen, Daniel V. Beiser, Mike Smiddy, Natalie A. Manley, Sam Yingling, Stephanie A. Kifowit, C.D. Davidsmeyer, Reginald Phillips, Thomas Morrison, Bill Mitchell, Adam Brown, Avery Bourne, Dwight Kay, John M. Cabello, Ron Sandack, Terri Bryant, Christine Winger, Michael P. McAuliffe and Randy Frese
Local representatives missing from the list are
- Mike Tryon (815) 459-6453
- Barb Wheeler (847) 973-0064
Not that I support taxing retirement income, but since no one can seem to come up with a budget solution, almost 7 months after its expiration, why would a legislator take something off the table without replacing it with a solution.
There is an awful lot of no going on, without any alternative yes.
Way smarter people than will ever hit this blog have stated “you cannot cut your way out of this budget mess”.
So, don’t raise the income tax on the working, don’t raise the tax on the retired, don’t raise the tax on corporations, don’t raise user fees like MFT, don’t broaden the sales tax to services, don’t get out of this budget mess.
How about when you say no you are required to find a yes.
This will devastate so many of our retired citizens who choose to stay here in Illinois.
Simply put, this will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for many McHenry County citizens who live in CB Districts one, two, and three.
Yes I have walked in all of those districts.
Thank you David McSweeney for leading the way on this.
It is time for government to quit taxing and spending without regard to the people who live here.
We were elected to make the tough decisions to balance budgets and not expedite the departure of citizens who call Illinois home.
**We were elected to make the tough decisions to balance budgets and not expedite the departure of citizens who call Illinois home.**
LOL – you do know that sometimes those tough decisions include raising revenue, right?
The tough decisions are not just about cutting services.
The touch decisions are about how to reach a balanced budget in a fair and balanced way.
Only 9 states in the country exempt retirement income from income taxes.
5% property taxes in Woodstock.
No politician or blog commenter has suggested any rationale supporting this as fair, balanced, or in any way a good policy.
Until a cogent defense of this property taxation rate is offered, the only arguments can be toward cutting spending.
And some, maybe all, of those nine states will find retired folks migrating from Illinois if retirement income is taxed.
Illinois’ Squishy Balanced Budget Requirement It would appear that Illinois’ budget is required to be balanced.
The Illinois Constitution states that “Proposed expenditures shall not exceed funds estimated to be available for the fiscal year shown in the budget” (emphasis added). 33
However, Illinois’ balanced budget requirement has some serious limitations.
First, it refers to anticipated revenues, and there is no requirement that the state adjust its spending if the anticipated revenues are not realized.
There is nothing to stop a governor or General Assembly from using an unrealistically high estimate when crafting the budget.
This is well known and has been acknowledged by political leaders.34, 35
In addition, Reports of the State Budget Crisis Task Force Illinois Report 18 “funds available” can include existing fund balances, even if these are intended to meet future obligations; and borrowing, even to pay operating expenses. Illinois’ balanced budget requirement is also a cash concept, referring only to the current fiscal year.
This means that the balanced budget requirement does not refer to future pension liabilities or unpaid bills from the previous year. Each fiscal year from 2009 to 2012 ended with a larger stack of unpaid bills — $8 billion at the end of fiscal year 2012 — and each year these bills were ignored when projecting balance for the next year’s budget.
Rauner should have legislation to change the IL Const to read:
“Proposed expenditures shall not exceed the previous year’s funds for the fiscal year shown in the present year’s budget”
If Brucy, Jack, Dave, Pam or any other IL politician doesn’t work in that direction they are no better than the other political hacks that came before them.