Barbara Flynn Currie.

28 October 2009

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

The state's Monetary Award Program (MAP) provides tuition assistance to low-income college students. But the state budget as originally approved for the current year provided only half as much funding for these needy students as did last year's budget.

The Governor chose to spend the full amount in the first semester. He decided not to use any portion of an additional $1.2 billion provided to him by the Legislature (to spend as he deemed fit) to make up the difference needed to fully fund MAP for the year.

So what happens to the second, the one that begins in January?

During the fall veto session, the legislature approved an extra appropriation--a little over $200 million--to fill the void. And the Governor signed the bill.

Pats on backs all around?

Well, not quite.

While it's possible the Governor has some discretionary dollars available to fill the bill, he says he needs additional revenues in order to meet this and other everyday budgetary demands.

There still is no appetite for a general tax increase among lawmakers. Some have proposed a tax amnesty as a way to pay for second-semester MAP funding. But even the rosiest of estimates shows that an amnesty would cover less than half the cost. As well, amnesties are more likely to speed up tax collections than bring in a lot of new revenues--taxpayers in disputes with the state Department of Revenue often pay up during an amnesty because that way they can avoid paying interest and penalties. Finally, tax amnesties send taxpayers the wrong message: don't pay today and maybe, by the time you pay up tomorrow, they'll decide to let you off scot-free. Frequent tax amnesties encourage an increase in scofflaw behavior, and our state's last amnesty was only six years ago.

So the legislature and the Governor have committed to full funding for eligible college students next semester. But neither the legislature nor the Governor wins an award for profiles in courage. Springfield has not solved the underlying problem, has not figured out how responsibly to fund the MAP program.

Springfield, facing a second-semester disaster for nearly 140,000 students, reached for nothing more than an aspirin--and a band-aid.

Isn't it time to get serious? The MAP bill will ultimately come due: how do we plan to pay it? Funds for the MAP program are not the only funds that are in short supply in the state budget.
No one looks forward to an increase in the tax bill. But, because of the national recession, Illinois is on the brink of a human services disaster. The fact is that we need new revenues in order to meet our basic responsibilities. Now is precisely the time to invest in human capital--exactly the investment MAP represents. We need to make sure we have people with the training and the skills it takes to help us create good economic opportunities as the recession subsides, opportunities for self-sufficiency and success. The Governor has proposed a small increase in the state income tax. The Governor's is a reasonable approach.

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