A year prior, Pritzker proposed actual graduated income tax rates to go along with his long-promised “Fair Tax” constitutional amendment plan, and promised that once fully implemented, Illinois would realize an extra $3.4 billion annually, all while only raising taxes on the wealthiest 3% of taxpayers.īut in an economy ravaged by the pandemic, Pritzker’s office has estimated the state could lose out on $6.5 billion in revenues in the current fiscal year, which began July 1. Long before COVID-19 hit Illinois in March, Illinois has had a structural deficit that’s ballooned year after year. In his inaugural address in January 2019, Pritzker declared: “The future of Illinois depends on the passage of a fair income tax.”īut now that future looks much less certain. Groups pushing the graduated tax plan conceded on Wednesday morning, ending Pritzker's expensive and multi-year campaign for the issue. "And the worst part is, the same billionaires who lied to you about the fair tax are more than happy to hurt our public schools, shake the foundations of our cities and diminish our state.”įor the constitutional amendment to pass, it needed 60% of the vote, or a simple majority of yes votes among all ballots cast. The graduated income tax measure got neither, with about 45% of voters casting ballots in favor of the measure, according to unofficial election totals. "There will be cuts and they will be painful," Pritzker said. JB Pritzker’s signature plan to change Illinois’ flat-rate income tax system to a graduated income tax on Tuesday, delivering a major blow to the first-term Democrat as vote totals showed an insurmountable lead in "no" votes Wednesday, even with up to 400,000 mail-in ballots still left to be counted in Illinois.Īfter spending nearly four years pushing for the issue first as a candidate and then as governor - and spending millions of his own wealth - Pritzker is left with few options to with another difficult budget year looming and the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying recession nowhere near over.ĭuring a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Pritzker blamed the graduated tax's failure on “billionaires and special interests” who fought against his plan.
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