Barb Wheeler Reports

Here’s part of what State Rep Barb Wheeler send to constituents (I’ve left out the Lake County part):

Week in Review for week of April 25, 2016

Barb Wheeler

Barb Wheeler

As I reported last week, Governor Rauner signed the measure to provide stopgap funding for our higher education system to stave off excessive layoffs and cutbacks, as well as fund MAP Grants to ensure students can stay in school.

Comptroller Munger acted immediately to distribute payments from the Education Assistance Fund.

The House returns to session this week and we’ll see if the progress from the higher education compromise can lead to compromise on broader budget before the end of May. Stay tuned.

Taxes – Graduated Income Tax Proposal

Rep. Wheeler – Why it will hurt middle class families, not help.

Tax + Credits with billsHJRCA 59 – the “Fair Tax” amendment – is another proposal with a nice name that won’t help Illinois’ middle class families.

Too often in the history of this state, we’ve been told by certain leaders in Springfield that a given tax would have its revenues used for a specific purpose and then once the money arrived it was diverted for a completely different pet project.

This is what concerns me greatly about HJRCA 59 and the proposed legislation to follow it if it became law.

In states that have enacted a tax like this, it is found that the middle class actually ends up paying more in taxes, not less.

A loaded moving van ready to leave the part of Crystal Lake in Rep. Barb Wheeler's district.

A loaded moving van ready to leave the part of northern Crystal Lake in Rep. Barb Wheeler’s district.

It also drives wealth out of the state, as those in higher income brackets have more flexibility to relocate their residence.

And in our district, residents who find they are taxed more simply relocate, often only a few minutes north.

In addition, when you consider that over 70% of small businesses in Illinois file as individuals, it would send even more of our job creators away and leave those of us left to pick up even more of the tax burden.

Illinois has the biggest out-migration of all 50 states and has lost more residents than they have gained. We don’t need any more reasons for our taxpayers to flee.

A better solution is to raise revenue by generating more income for the people and businesses that pay the taxes.

By cutting the red tape and growing our state’s economy, attracting more businesses and keeping the businesses and residents we do have, we will generate the revenues we need to sustain jobs and also sustain our safety net for those among us who need help the most.

If the 95,000 residents who left the state in 2014 were still here, we would have sufficient revenue to fill the proposed budget gap and then some.

I am committed to helping our state recover and become a strong, revenue-rich state which will help all who live and work here and look forward to continuing to advance these policies to help each and every resident of Illinois.

Budget – Higher education

Governor signs bill, pushed by House Republicans, to provide stopgap funding for higher education

The bill was SB 2059 as amended in the House.  On Monday, April 25, Governor Bruce Rauner signed the bill into law, making it possible for the Comptroller’s office to begin transferring “lifeline” funding to Illinois’ nine universities, 12 campuses, 39 community college districts and approximately 120,000 Monetary Assistance Program (MAP) Grant recipients.

The money provided by SB 2059 is “lifeline” funding intended to help keep operations going and enable students to remain active in classroom learning.  Full funding awaits continued work by the General Assembly to enact constitutional balanced budgets for FY16 and FY17.  Illinois higher education has not received operational funding from the State since July 1, 2016, when FY16 began.

House Republicans Mike Fortner and Dan Brady identified a source of existing tax money, $600 million in the Education Assistance Fund, that could be used to provide stopgap funding for Illinois higher education.

This was money previously withdrawn from the general revenue funding stream generated by the existing Illinois income tax as a rainy-day fund for purposes of Illinois education.  Using this money will not require a tax increase.

All House Republicans present and voting on this measure on Friday, April 22 voted for the bill. Governor Rauner’s signature allowed this bill to become law as P.A. 99-502.

The Governor expressed optimism this week that this could be a sign that Illinois budget talks are about to get serious.  In an interview, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin urged his colleagues to use SB 2059 as a stimulus to conduct further talks on other issues with the goal of enacting a constitutional balanced budget before May 31, the scheduled end of the 2016 spring session. Illinois is currently the only state in the U.S. without an enacted budget for FY16.

General Assembly – Payless payday

End of month sees payless payday for 118 members of Illinois House.

Leslie Munger

Leslie Munger

The Illinois legislators were members of one the largest single groups of men and women affected by the decision of Comptroller Leslie Munger that she must shift the pay status of Illinois elected officials between payment queues.

House members from both parties are paid, by law, at the end of every calendar month.

Due to the State’s continued lack of a constitutional balanced budget, however, the Comptroller has determined that these payments to elected state leaders should be treated on a basis of equality with other budget-impacted State payments on an immediate basis.  The decision became effective during the end-of-April pay period.

The end-of-April business day was Friday, April 29.

Elected official pay commitments, including pay for Comptroller Munger, for other statewide elected officials and for members of the Illinois House and Senate have been shifted to a wait-queue that will generate payments when monies are available.   As with other providers of goods and services to the State, delay times are expected in the settlements of these commitments and claims.  While the move nominally affects Governor Bruce Rauner, the State’s chief executive has announced that he is serving without pay.

Observers see the move as increasing internal pressure within the General Assembly to discuss budget issues seriously with the goal of generating new spending numbers before the legislature’s scheduled May adjournment. Comptroller Munger’s office is currently posting a backlog of official unpaid bills that exceeds $6.8 billion.

Health care fraud – Rauner task force

Governor Rauner’s task force against health care fraud organizes itself

Hedalth care fraud imageThe task force, created earlier in April 2016 by executive order, has been asked to look into possible fraud, waste, and abuse in state-administered health care programs.  Illinois taxpayers pay $19 billion a year to administer and pass through payments on state-run health care programs.

Most of this money is paid directly by state taxpayers to Illinois, and a large subset is paid through federal taxes paid by Illinoisans to Washington, D.C.-based programs in which both Illinois and the federal government collaborate and provide funds.

Rauner has asked the task force to review the best practices currently used by the private sector to examine and control soaring health care costs.  Other states’ efforts to reduce Medicaid fraud and other forms of public sector health care abuse are also to be looked at.

The task force will work with data managers skilled at “big data” analytics to uncover statistical patterns indicative of non-optimal health care billing and spending.

The task force has been asked to write a report that will: (a) make recommendations for policy changes the State needs to look at, and (b) refer specific cases of wrongful reimbursements to authorities to seek recovery on behalf of Illinois taxpayers.

Illinois Soldier of the Year

Spc. Tycjan Sieradzki honored

The 21-year-old from north suburban Algonquin, a member of the 244th Digital Liaison Detachment, won first-place honors in the Illinois Soldier of the Year competition held on April 7 through 10 at the Marseilles Training Center.  The competition, open to members of the Illinois National Guard, is an annual exercise intended to recognize and honor excellence in physical fitness, mental toughness, and skill competence.

A full-time truck driver when not on active duty, Sieradzki told a reporter that he had trained for the 2016 competition with calisthenics, by shooting at a local gun range, by self-orienteering for land navigation skills in wooded areas, and had worked with his unit mates to learn and memorize information for the brain-skill section of the competition.

This was his second year in the ISY competition after coming in third in 2015.

As part of his victory, Sieradzki has been honored with invitations to represent the Illinois National Guard in the NFL Draft ceremony and player selection event held in Chicago on April 28-30, and in the Midwest U.S. regional Best Warrior competition to be held in Ohio on May 16-19.   A representative from the National Guard will be invited to the U.S. Army Soldier of the Yearcompetition to be held at Fort A.P. Hill in southern Virginia on September 26 through October 3 of this year.

Taxes – property

New study generates additional published evidence that Illinois owners, including homeowners, pay highest property taxes in nation

Even those with paid mortgages continue to have to pay taxes to live in their homes.

Even those with paid mortgages continue to have to pay taxes to live in their homes.

The study, published by CoreLogic, compares aggregated property tax extensions (the total amounts billed) with the value of the real property being taxed.

According to CoreLogic, which the median property tax extension aggregate extension is 1.31% of the property being taxed, the median Illinois extension is 2.67% of value.

This measurement scale makes Illinois the highest-property-tax state in the U.S., with New York second at 2.53% of value.

The CoreLogic data indicates that if an Illinois homeowner is occupying a house valued at $200,000, the homeowner will be paying a median annualproperty tax bill of $5,340. As always, individual homeowners’ experiences may vary.

Different localities within Illinois will have different property tax rates; and within localities, different property owners may enjoy the effect of specific property tax relief measures.  For example, senior citizen homeowners should be able to enjoy some relief from the Senior Citizens Homestead Property Tax Exemption, which automatically subtracts some of the value from the assessment number generated for an eligible senior citizen’s house before the tax bill is generated.

According to CoreLogic, neighboring states have lower property tax rates than Illinois.  The California-based data aggregator generated median property tax burdens, calculated as a percentage of property value, of 1.95% in Wisconsin, 1.69% in Iowa, 1.26% in Missouri, and 0.88% in Indiana.  CoreLogic’s data, published this week, agrees with previously public state-by–state surveys by firms such as WalletHub, which have also found Illinois to be one of the worststates in the nation in which to be taxed.

Workers’ compensation – call for reform

Northern Illinois elected leader calls for workers’ comp reform

The workers’ compensation system asks employers of Illinois workers to make additional contributions on top of employee pay.  Workers’ compensation is the system that repays medical care providers for the medical costs of treating injuries suffered on the job in Illinois.  Employers pay insurance premiums to workers’ compensation insurers; the premiums are based upon the workplace’s claim history and the overall state of Illinois workers’ comp law.

In an op-ed piece published on Thursday, April 28, Boone County Board Chairperson Bob Walberg reported that Illinois workers’ compensation insurance costs have risen much higher than comparable costs charged to employers in neighboring and comparable states.

Boone County, which borders Wisconsin, and its employers are constantly made aware of comparable workers’ comp rates and their role as an element in the overall cost of doing business in Illinois.

Illinois currently has the 7th highest workers’ comp rates among the 50 states, partly because of state law’s generous treatment of injuries incurred outside the workplace or as part of a pattern of events that included both workplace and non-workplace events.

Walberg reports that on top of endangering job creation in Illinois, high workers’ comp costs also directly damage local taxpayers throughout Illinois.

Local governments such as Boone County pay workers’ comp premiums as part of their overall employer-employee relationships.  These costs are passed on to local taxpayers.

The Illinois public sector pays $900 million in annual workers’ comp costs – an expense item that could be lowered by hundreds of millions of dollars each year if Illinois were to adopt patterns of workers’ compensation that more closely match those followed by the employers and employees of other states.


Thank you for reading. If you have any questions or concerns about anything you read, please feel free to contact me in the district office at (847) 973-0064 or by email at wheeler@ilhousegop.org.

Have a wonderful week!


Comments

Barb Wheeler Reports — 3 Comments

  1. In addition, when you consider that over 70% of small businesses in Illinois file as individuals, it would send even more of our job creators away and leave those of us left to pick up even more of the tax burden.

    90% of small businesses in IL make less than $200k taxable income, so the vast majority of small business owners would receive a tax cut.

    Under this proposal, 99.3% of taxpayers would actually receive a tax cut.

    If the 95,000 residents who left the state in 2014 were still here, we would have sufficient revenue to fill the proposed budget gap and then some.

    Really? Come on…

    Lets assume that 95,000 residents equate to 36,121 households (most recent census data has 2.63 people per household).

    The median household income is $57,166, which would equate to a little more than $2B in lost income.

    That would then equate to about $77.4M in income tax revenue (3.75%).

    Lets double (which is way too much, but lets be generous) that to assume that increased economic activity will also bring in more state revenue.

    So we have about $150M in increased revenue.

    How does that fill the $5-9B budget deficit?

  2. alabamashake:

    But Barb Wheeler is pleasing her master, Governor Bruce Rauner, by fighting to protect the rich from paying their fair share of income taxes.

    And isn’t that what EVERY “Republican” elected official’s job is in Springfield right now?

    To shield and obey Bruce Rauner and his rich friends at all costs, regardless of the consequences for the public..?

  3. As a small business owner in Crystal Lake, I would like Ms. Wheeler to know that there are many other factors driving small businesses out of McHenry County than the proposed graduated tax.

    1st on my list is high property taxes that increase each year while the true value (not assessed value) of commercial properties keeps declining.

    The poor economy, high property taxes, and declining home values in McHenry County has driven many higher income consumers out of the area (because they COULD leave), and this puts an additional burden on local businesses who have to compete for a shrinking number of people with less money to spend.

    This area will not support periodic price increases by small businesses, yet business owners keep seeing their bottom line nicked away by high property taxes.

    If Ms. Wheeler is considering supporting a “service” tax, in my opinion, this will hurt Illinois businesses and consumers much more than a graduated income tax.

    Perhaps Ms. Wheeler is appealing to friends and family members who will be most affected by the graduated tax?

    She should concentrate on things that will really help her constituents like pension reform, or capping property taxes at a reasonable level which will put more $’s in the consumer’s pocket and in turn, help attract small businesses.

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