Progress Illinois
May 22, 2009
It is time for our leaders to do the right thing and vote for the revenues needed to maintain the state’s crucial services.
From Progress Illinois:
The clock is ticking down towards the end of the General Assembly session. It is time for our leaders to do the right thing and vote for the revenues needed to maintain the state’s crucial services.
In our troubled economy, the line between those who are poor and those who are not is blurring. Many are struggling, and it is likely that more will join their ranks. The Heartland Alliance recently reported that the number of Illinois residents pushed into poverty could grow by more than 400,000 this year. If the nation’s unemployment rate reaches 9 percent, the poor population could grow by 253,000 in Chicago alone. Is this the time to slash the programs that help people get through tough times, just when more people need them the most? That is what is on the table in Springfield right now. Illinois leaders are considering responding to the plight of their neighbors by passing a “doomsday” budget that would decimate crucial programs rather than pass the revenue measures to maintain them.
Taxes pay for crucial programs that are in demand during tough times (just as taxes pay for parks, roads, bridges and police). Illinois has not had an adequate tax system to fund these popular and necessary services. We have gotten by with gimmicks and not paying our creditors. Now, with the economy severely troubled, the Illinois tax system has gone from inadequate to disastrous.
We have a deep deficit for 2009-2010 of about $12 billion. We must raise taxes to help remedy this, both to get through the current crisis and to responsibly fund the government in the future. Everyone in Springfield knows this, yet the proposals by Governor Quinn and others to raise the necessary revenue are said to be “stalled.” This reluctance is not about the details of revenue plans, which can be negotiated as necessary, but about the political calculations around voting to raise revenue. Some legislators are calculating what they can gain by attacking those who vote in favor of a hike; others are finding it difficult to summon the courage.
Without the increased revenues, troubled families dealing with the recession will lose health care and the child care that enables them to get another job. Transit systems will raise fares or close routes. People with disabilities will be denied or pushed out of their care arrangements. Low-income seniors will go hungry or without lights. Schools will cut programs. Some kids will suffer abuse or neglect who would otherwise have been spared. Parks will close. Nursing homes and clinics and hospitals will struggle, and some will close.
Nobody wants this. This is no time to run away from a tough vote — or for political opportunism around that vote. Illinois has needed revenue reform for years, and now the recession demands it. The people we elected should face the music and vote for it. If the vote is “yes”, those who voted “no” must be accountable for how they would have cut programs if their vote had prevailed. Illinoisans are mature enough to understand that necessary programs are not free. Illinoisans are generous and community-conscious enough to have supported these programs when they were established, and they will support paying for them. Illinois leaders should rise to the occasion and do the right thing.