Some Legislators Warming Up to Idea of Income Tax Increase
» Gatehouse News Service - 18 July 2008
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - If you’re an individual earning $50,000 annually, you already hand over $1,440 of your income to the state each year.
But that could climb by $240 if lawmakers raise the state income tax half a point from 3 percent to 3.5 percent. If they raised it a full point, your additional hit would be $480.
Although legislators aren’t formally considering an income tax hike, some say they are warming to the prospect.
“We’ve got to come up with some type of a revenue stream that’s going to do everything we need for it to do,” state Rep. Chuck Jefferson, D-Rockford, said. “The only one on the horizon that I can see, unless I’m missing something, is the income tax increase.”
Jefferson said a tax hike could generate “more than enough money for a capital plan,” while filling budget holes and sustaining current programs.
Efforts to raise more cash for state coffers by expanding gambling, privatizing the lottery, borrowing and diverting dollars from dedicated accounts failed in the House, where Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, has said he would rather raise the income tax.
» Gatehouse News Service - 18 July 2008
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - If you’re an individual earning $50,000 annually, you already hand over $1,440 of your income to the state each year.
But that could climb by $240 if lawmakers raise the state income tax half a point from 3 percent to 3.5 percent. If they raised it a full point, your additional hit would be $480.
Although legislators aren’t formally considering an income tax hike, some say they are warming to the prospect.
“We’ve got to come up with some type of a revenue stream that’s going to do everything we need for it to do,” state Rep. Chuck Jefferson, D-Rockford, said. “The only one on the horizon that I can see, unless I’m missing something, is the income tax increase.”
Jefferson said a tax hike could generate “more than enough money for a capital plan,” while filling budget holes and sustaining current programs.
Efforts to raise more cash for state coffers by expanding gambling, privatizing the lottery, borrowing and diverting dollars from dedicated accounts failed in the House, where Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, has said he would rather raise the income tax.
