House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, speaks at a press conference in Springfield, Tuesday, April 10, 2018.
Image courtesy of BlueRoomStream
The battle over changing the state constitution to allow a progressive income tax rather than a flat one may be dead on arrival, for now.
House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, announced Tuesday that 50 of his members are on board with a resolution opposing a tiered income tax structure. Durkin stood alongside several other Republicans in Springfield Tuesday afternoon, saying that with Illinois’ high property taxes and tough business environment, Illinois’ constitutionally mandated flat tax is one of the only good things the state has going.
He said he’s confident that House Republican opposition to tiered rates will persist.
“Our members feel very strongly about this,” Durkin said. “So I don’t believe anyone who’s added their name to this resolution would change their mind down the road on this.”
Durkin said the only Republican who didn’t sign on was state Rep. David Harris, R-Arlington Heights. Harris was one of a group of House Republicans who voted with Democrats to override the governor’s veto of last summer’s $5 billion income tax increase. Harris said Tuesday afternoon that he may sign on to Durkin's bill at some point. He said he wanted to talk to constituents before making a decision.
Any constitutional amendment requires 71 votes in the House. With 50 Republicans opposing a progressive tax, there aren't enough of the 118 House members to advance such a measure out of the chamber.
State Rep. Robert Martwick, D-Chicago, who supports a progressive income tax, said something has to be done to address the state’s growing debt, or else.
“If we sit here at 4.95 percent and say no more taxes, all we’re doing is we’re ensuring that taxes will be higher every year down the line,” Martwick said.
Illinois has $130 billion unfunded pension liability, and that number eclipses $200 billion when including fully subsidized state employee retiree health care benefits. The state also has more than $8.3 billion in unpaid bills.
Durkin said the fact progressive tax rates haven’t been publicly debated should be a concern. He said last-minute deals are standard operating procedure for the Democratic majority.
“[Other legislation from majority Democrats] had little notice to the legislature, no notice to the public, so that should be the greatest fear that there would be no airing of transparency,” Durkin said.
Martwick did propose tier rates similar to Wisconsin last year, but that didn’t advance. He said the debate needs to happen.
“We need to have an honest, mathematical discussion of what those rates need to be to make sure we’re not accumulating more debt to make things worse for the next generation,” Martwick said.
There are two measures in the Senate to ask voters about changing the constitution for a progressive income tax, and one measure in the House. None have advanced out of its respective chamber.
In a statement, Gov. Bruce Rauner applauded Republican lawmakers for their unity against a progressive tax.
"The Democrats’ progressive income tax is a calculated killer: it kills jobs and businesses and, ultimately, it will kill the middle class," Rauner said. "It has been less than a year since Illinois families were forced to begin paying for the 32 percent income tax hike I opposed. We need to send a message that emptying our citizens’ pockets with new taxes is not the solution to our problems."
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