Barbara Flynn Currie.

10 June 2009

News from Springfield..................by State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D-25)

The Governor is sounding a clarion call for new revenues to meet important needs in health and human services.
He’s right.
Available state funds, stretched as far as they can go, mean devastating cuts in the grant programs that provide, among other things, help for seniors in their homes, early education programs for kids, mental health and foster care services, and financial help for those who’d hoped to head to college.
The fiscal problems Illinois faces are little different from the challenges facing our sister states across the country. We are in a deep recession, and the monies coming in don’t match the programs we’ve promised—and, in the past, funded.
I sponsored the Governor’s proposal to raise the income tax temporarily to temper the size of the cuts. His plan would have increased the individual income tax from three percent to four-and-a-half percent for the next two years. Among the states that tax income, today’s Illinois rate is the lowest. The Governor’s proposed increase would neither have significantly changed our place in line nor brought us out of line with our Midwest neighbors.
Wouldn’t a tax hike, in the midst of a recession, send the wrong message—and cause additional pain—to the citizenry?
Some important economists, including Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, argue that public spending during bad times is exactly the right thing to do. Slashing budgets brings on even worse news for the economy. Cutting the Illinois budget, as would be required without new funding, could increase the unemployment rate by several percentage points.
It’s true no one likes to pay more in taxes. In the present environment, however, it’s the only way to prevent significant human misery. Measured against that standard, I would say that it’s the only moral choice legislators can make. And it’s fair to point out that an income tax—unlike, for example, a sales or property tax —is paid only by those with the income to pay it. To soften the blow, the measure would increase the benefit of the earned income tax credit for low-income families.
But shouldn’t the state, like everyone else, tighten its belt during these difficult times?
Even with a tax hike, the state will have to find places to cut. Even with a tax hike, revenues will fall close to $1 billion short of the spending levels the Governor proposed in March.
Let’s look again at a few of the cuts. Eighty thousand low-income working families will lose help paying the child care bill. Can they afford to stay on the job? Twenty thousand seniors will lose the services that help them stay in their homes. How does it help their sense of dignity—and the state’s bottom line—to pay more for their care in nursing homes? And nearly two hundred thousand students will lose financial aid. How will our young compete in the global economy without a college degree?
The House vote on the income tax fell seriously short—42 yes, with 60 needed for passage. After midnight May 31, even more votes—71 in the House, 36 in the Senate—are required.
The state’s new fiscal year begins in July. I’m committed to the cause, and there’s still time for the legislature to return to the state capitol. There’s still time—if there’s a will—to avoid these devastating cuts.

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