One of Illinois Gov. Pritzker’s proxies, Quentin Fulkes, has taken to the pages of the Chicago Tribune with an op-ed supporting the governor’s signature agenda item, a graduated income tax for Illinois:
Pritzker’s proposed budget would bring desperately needed stability and revenue to our state, while also increasing much-needed funding for our education system, from preschools to universities — an investment in our children’s futures.
While this balanced budget is an important first step in a multiyear approach to fix the damage done by the devastating policies of the Rauner administration, Illinois can only improve so much with our current tax structure. The regressive tax structure Illinois currently has cannot fix the challenges we still face.
That’s why it is time for Illinois to implement a fair tax.
A graduated income tax will help unburden millions of middle- and working-class families who have disproportionately shouldered the tax burden of our current system for too long. A fair tax will also help eliminate the structural deficit that has dragged this state down for the past two decades, a structural deficit that will only get worse if we continue to stand idly by.
Illinois’s state constitution mandates a flat income tax. Changing that will require a constitutional amendment. My present question is the same as the one I had before the election: how many committed votes does the governor have in favor of amending the state’s constitution? This not a surprise. It was a key plank in the platform on which Mr. Pritzker ran. Without committed votes in both houses of the legislature, he’s just blowing smoke.
Does he have any? Frankly, this puzzles me. Who is the intended audience of this op-ed? Does the governor really think that Illinoisans will pressure their elected representatives to vote for a constitutional amendment? Is the legislature the intended audience? Aren’t there better forums for that than a Trib op-ed?
As I recall, my local newspaper challenged him during the endorsements interview for relying upon taxes that would require a Constitutional amendment given how long that process takes. I think Pritzker might have suggested cutting waste, fraud and abuse and legalizing marijuana or something, but I’m pretty sure the point about the timeframe was put back on him.
He has to start now, right? Most people seem to favor progressive taxes, but nobody every seems to do anything about it.
My point is twofold. I don’t believe he will be able to wrangle enough Democrats let alone Republicans to amend the state constitution. The legislators are well aware of what would happen. It would chase their donors and prospective employers away.
And what good is an op-ed? Whom will it sway? The time for boosting popular support ended in November.