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Illinois Budget at Impasse

1 min readBy: Joseph Bishop-Henchman

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn refuses to consider a proposal to cut state spending by 10%, and the Legislature refuses to consider Quinn’s plan to raise the state’s income taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. from 3% to 4%. The result (from the State Journal-Register):

Lawmakers abruptly left Springfield Friday without approving a spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1. There is no schedule for them to return to finish, but unless the Democrat-controlled legislature passes a budget by May 31, they’ll need Republican votes to do so.

Three times last week, the House rejected plans to borrow money to make a required $3.8 billion payment to the pension systems next year. Quinn said that was a mistake.

“We have to borrow. I’ve said that from Day One,” he said.

Just kicking the can down the road.

More on Illinois here.

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About the Author

Joseph Bishop-Henchman

Joseph Bishop-Henchman

Executive Vice President

Joe Bishop-Henchman is Executive Vice President at the Tax Foundation, where he analyzes state tax trends, constitutional issues, and tax law developments. Joe has testified or presented to officials in 36 states, testified before Congress six times, and has written over 75 major studies on tax policy.