Bankrupt Illinois Slams Citizens With 32% Income Tax Hike, More to Come

-By Warner Todd Huston

As the state of Illinois edges near becoming the first U.S. state to ever be rated junk bond status, the Democrat-controlled legislature of the bankrupt state of Illinois has just voted to slam its citizens with a hefty 32 percent hike in state income taxes.

After a series of delays as a legislature obviously embarrassed by its own actions dithered, the State House finally approved of the Senate’s override of the governor’s veto with a 71-42 vote burdening the state with a massive tax hike. It was a vote that saw ten of the state’s Republican contingent abandon Republican values and join the Democrats in approval.

Thursday’s vote permanently increases the state’s personal income tax rate from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent. It also raises the burden on businesses raising the rate from 5.9 percent to seven. It all amounts to a 32 percent hike for the average Illinoisan and a $5 billion tax hike overall.

The new tax hike all the more galling because Illinois already has the highest property taxes in the nation, a fact that often forces retirees out of their homes and fleeing to other states. This is also a situation not lost on the state’s African American population, either. Illinois is witnessing a growing number of its African American citizens moving out of the state with Chicago and Cook County residents leaving at the fastest rate.
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Bankrupt Illinois Slams Citizens With 32% Income Tax Hike, More to Come”


Even in Blue Illinois the GOP Wave of 2014 Had an Impact, But The State is STILL A Major Failure

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Republicans bumped up their gains in the Senate and the House of Representatives and also gained in Governor’s mansions across the nation and even deep, deep blue Illinois was affected by this GOP wave. But even with these few bright spots, Illinois is the worst state in the union on every level.

But, yes, last night there were some bright spots. First of all, two Democrats lost their seats in the House of Representatives.

In the 10th District over in Lake County, Robert Dold re-took the seat he lost in 2012 when Democrat Brad Schneider knocked him out. Schneider rode Obama’s coat tails into the House in the big 2012 Democrat sweep.

Dold endured a vicious campaign full of lies launched by Schneider and the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee. The Democrats claimed Dold was a “Tea Party” extremist and a major anti-abortion activist and neither are true.

But the shocker was the 12th District race where State Rep, Mike Bost just slammed Democrat incumbent Bill Enyart by a wide margin. I don’t think anyone had this major upset on their radar here in Illinois. Enyart only got one term and was ushered into office in 2012 along with the 10th District’s Schneider.

But the biggest upset is the race for Governor in the Land of Lincoln.
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Even in Blue Illinois the GOP Wave of 2014 Had an Impact, But The State is STILL A Major Failure”


Food Stamp Sign-ups in Obama’s Illinois Larger Than State’s Job Growth

-By Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s home state of Illinois is struggling to break the Great Recession. A perfect example of this is seen in a recent report that shows that applications for food stamps in the Land of Lincoln is greater than its creation of jobs.

Illinois has had the worst recovery from the recession of any state in the country, the Illinois Policy Institute reported this month. “There are nearly 300,000 fewer Illinoisans working today than in January 2008, and 170,000 fewer payroll jobs. ”

“For every post-recession job created in Illinois, nearly two people have enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps,” the Institute wrote. “In the recession era, the number of Illinoisans dependent on food stamps has risen by 745,000.”
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Food Stamp Sign-ups in Obama’s Illinois Larger Than State’s Job Growth”


Illinois Worst Again With Highest Home Foreclosure Rate in Nation

-By Warner Todd Huston

A website that tracks bank foreclosures on homes across the nation finds that Barack Obama’s Illinois has once again become the worst state in the country for people losing their homes.

Bankrate.com reports that one in ever 747 homes have received a foreclosure notice in the Land of Lincoln. By comparison, the national average in one in every 1,203 homes.
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Illinois Worst Again With Highest Home Foreclosure Rate in Nation”


New Tone: Illinois Democrat Leader Says Republicans Would Hire ISIS Terrorists

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last weekend Illinois GOP candidate for Governor Bruce Rauner took the ALS “ice bucket challenge.” When he did he urged Illinois Democrat leaders to join him in the challenge. In reply, the state’s Democrat House leader outrageously found a way to link the charitable challenge to a claim that Republicans are like the ISIS terrorists in Iraq!

Instead of picking a long-time politician, Republican voters in the Land of Lincoln chose businessman Rauner as their candidate for Governor and he has been quite a different kind of candidate. I suppose he felt that the ALS challenge was a feels good way to lighten politics up a bit in Illinois–a place where calling politics a “blood sport” is an understatement.

Well, to show that even charities aren’t beyond being used for mean spirited political jabs, the office of Democrat House Speaker Michael Madiagn responded to the ALS challenge by claiming that Rauner would like to hire ISIS terrorists for his campaign.
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New Tone: Illinois Democrat Leader Says Republicans Would Hire ISIS Terrorists”


Worst American Governor Pat Quinn Urges Obama to Bring all Illegals to Illinois

-By Warner Todd Huston


Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has a great idea. He wants Obama to bring all the illegals to Illinois! In a state that sits at the bottom of every metric that makes a successful state–rampant unemployment, lowest job creation, highest debt, biggest pension crisis, worst business climate–Pat Quinn wants to import thousands of people who have no jobs and no prospects for one, people with no education, and people possibly full of diseases right here to the Land of Lincoln.

On Friday evening after the news day was done, Quinn announced that he is prepared to give as many illegals as Obama can spare a place to stay in Illinois.

During the announcement, Quinn spokesman Grant Klintzman said, “If a location is needed we are prepared to aid the federal government in finding a suitable one.”
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Worst American Governor Pat Quinn Urges Obama to Bring all Illegals to Illinois”


Illinois Worst in Midwest for Private Sector Job Creation

-By Warner Todd Huston


I have been chronicling all the major failures of the once great state of Illinois and this week we have yet another one. A new tabulation of private sector job creation finds that Illinois created a dismal 500 non-government jobs in 2013 making it the single worst state in the Midwest and almost the worst in the country (again).

The Illinois Policy Institute put out its jobs report card recently and found Illinois to be one of the worst of the worst. It was the worst of the Midwestern region and the second worst in the whole country.
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Illinois Worst in Midwest for Private Sector Job Creation”


Illinois One of the Worst GDP Growth in Entire Midwest

-By Warner Todd Huston

Illinois has earned its spot as the state with the worst GDP in the entire Midwest. So, once again we find that Illinois turns out to be one of the worst states in the country for nearly any and every metric that makes a successful state.

Michael Lucci of the Illinois Policy Institute pointed out in a recent blog post that Illinois ranks only above Missouri as the worst for GDP growth among the 12 Midwestern states in the survey.

“Illinois recorded the second-worst growth in gross domestic product of any state in the Midwest,” Lucci wrote, “according to this week’s release from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The Illinois economy grew by just 0.9 percent in 2013. Only Missouri grew slower, at a sluggish 0.8 percent.”
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Illinois One of the Worst GDP Growth in Entire Midwest”


Obama Library Starts Off With $100 Million in Corruption in Chicago

-By Warner Todd Huston

Why is it not a surprise that the first moves to make Chicago the home of the Barack Hussein Obama Presidential Library are born in corruption? But I suppose it is a fitting way to start a library for one of the biggest failure and most corrupt politicians ever to sit in the White House.

In the most bankrupt state in the union the Illinois Democrat Party floated the idea of using $100 million in taxpayer dollars to set up the BO Library and the way they went about it all was 100 percent corruption.

Illinois Democrats are desperate to have Chicago named as the site of the Obama Presidential Library, so desperate they pulled a sneaky “off-site” vote to spend $100 million in tax dollars on its construction. But the underhanded vote and the unfunded expenditure of millions the state doesn’t have had Democrats running for cover after politicians, the media, and the voters erupted in criticism of the move.

The snap decision to throw $100 million tax dollars at a project that isn’t even assured came in for heavy criticism in a state that has one of the worst budget overruns in the country. But the way the decision was made and the many conflicts of interest involved in the campaigning for the library also raised eyebrows all across the state.

One such conflict is that the woman who heads the Illinois Arts Council Agency is the wife of the Speaker of the Illinois House, Democrat Michael Madigan. Shirley Madigan expects to have a big role in the planning and construction of an Obama Presidential Library, a project of which her politician husband is a big booster.
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Obama Library Starts Off With $100 Million in Corruption in Chicago”


Mercatus: Illinois Ranks in Bottom Among The Least Free States in the Nation

-By Warner Todd Huston

One can’t be surprised that Obama’s home state of Illinois is one of the worst five states in the nation–like it is for most other things–in the Mercatus Center’s study of the level of freedom in each state. Naturally Illinois ranks close to the bottom of the most free states.

This is unsurprising since Illinois is situated at the bottom of all states in several different categories of what makes a successful state.

In this new Mercatus survey, Illinois has slipped two spots since last time now ranking as the 45th state on that evolving scale.

Here is how Mercatus has it…

Analysis of Ranking

Illinois is one of the least free states to live in from the perspective of regulatory policy and personal freedom, but on fiscal policy it ranks in the middle of the pack. However, there are still some fiscal issues in dire need of improvement.

Illinois’s tax burden is dead-center average, while government spending and employment are below average. Government spending has been increasing over time, however, and certain categories, such as employee retirement, are way out of line with national norms. The main fiscal problem is debt: state and local debt make up 25.1 percent of personal income.
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Mercatus: Illinois Ranks in Bottom Among The Least Free States in the Nation”


Illinois Tops Nation in Growth of Food Stamp Recipients

-By Warner Todd Huston

President Obama’s home state of Illinois has gained a new distinction: it tops the nation in the growth of the number of its citizens on food stamps.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 15.7 percent of the Land of Lincoln’s population are now enrolled in the food stamp program.

As Joe Schoffstall points out: “The USDA’s latest data shows 2,023,635 Illinoisans were enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in February 2013. In February of 2012, 1,831,898 people took part in the program. That’s an increase of 10.5 percent in just one year.”

Schoffstall further notes that, “Illinois was the only state to see a double-digit increase of the number of residents enrolled in the SNAP program from the same time period last year.”

This should come as no surprise. Illinois consistently ranks in with the bottom worst states in nearly every metric used to measure a successful state.
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Illinois Tops Nation in Growth of Food Stamp Recipients”


All Other Problems Solved, Chicago Democrats’ New Law Worried About Dogs Behind the Wheel

-By Warner Todd Huston

Having apparently solved all of the other debilitating problems Illinois is facing, Chicago Democrats have now turned their considered attention to making sure dog owners don’t let their puppies get behind the wheel of an automobile.

This important bill (HB1581) amends the Illinois vehicle code to ban drivers from putting their pooch on their laps as they drive. Presumably the Democrats understand it is the humans that are doing the driving, not the dogs–but we may need to launch a second legislative campaign to clarify that.

As Chicago-based Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill, Rep. Bully Burke, says, “Because I travel, I can’t help but observe the number of people with dogs on their laps.” And so, ol’ Billy is out to correct this egregious public safety issue. He’s all about solving the puppy-distracted driver issue.

This is a vital issue, to be sure.

Why? Well, it’s obvious that Illinois Democrats have solved every other nagging issue in the Land of Lincoln, right?
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All Other Problems Solved, Chicago Democrats’ New Law Worried About Dogs Behind the Wheel”


Quinn’s Big Cuts Amount to a Mere $8 Per Citizen

From the Illinois Policy Institute…

Over the past week, there has been a lot of news coverage of the line item vetos Gov. Quinn made before signing the budget. Many have mischaracterized this budget as one that is austere.

As we’ve said before that is not the case and these additional “cuts” the governor made don’t change that assessment.

The cuts are minimal at best. The actual cuts equate to only $8 per person and still are not enough to allow for the scheduled sunset of the tax hikes.

To learn more, check out the latest in our portfolio of budget work.
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Quinn’s Big Cuts Amount to a Mere $8 Per Citizen”


Illinois Legislative Session Wrap Up

-By Warner Todd Huston

So, once we get past the vague, gut feeling that not much was done in this past legislative session, we can look over the last several months and assess what Springfield done for us all. As the state was distracted by yet another trial for Rod Blagojevich (this time a successful one) our elected officials were at loggerheads on many issues. But with the Democrats having such a hammerlock on power, most everything went their way. And, in some cases “their way” was no way at all.

For instance, the general assembly once again failed to address pension reform. Like the Sword of Damocles, the pension mess hangs over the heads of every single citizen of Illinois. Sadly, we cannot blame only the Democrats, here, as there has been a complete lack of political will (and courage) on both sides of the aisle to take on this issue. In fact, many of the problem legislators are those Republicans whose districts have a large population of state workers and are swayed by the government unions to which they belong.

Some think the pension mess will be brought up during the coming veto session. There is no timeline for such an action, though.
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Illinois Legislative Session Wrap Up”


Illinois So Broke They Want to Sell Ads on License Plates

-By Warner Todd Huston

You know things are bad when governments start selling things they “own.” The latest is the state of Illinois so over spent and in a budgetary hole that authorities are floating the idea of selling advertising space on its auto license plates.

The Democrat led general assembly has given the Secretary of State’s office a directive to begin researching the pros and cons of “corporate plates,” or sponsors for license plates (SB1360). The hope is that more money will be brought into the treasury and, perhaps, the state won’t have to raise taxes… as much.
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Illinois So Broke They Want to Sell Ads on License Plates”


Criminal Element: Ill. Democrat Was Convicted Felon Before Being Elected

-By Warner Todd Huston

It has been revealed that Illinois State Representative Robert Rita was a convicted felon before he ever ran for office for the fist time, a violation of state law. Being a convicted felon should have barred him from even running for office.

Lee Williams of the Illinois Policy Institute tells us that Rita, a Blue Island Democrat and a five-term state rep., has always been ineligible to seek elected office, absent a pardon.

Rita was convicted of DUI and attempted bribery in Nye County, Nevada in 1991. Lee Williams reports that this was confirmed by Jamie Kostiuk, a Nye County records clerk. Hard copies of the files, though, could not be located.

Lee Williams, however, tracked down some other sources of the conviction.
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Criminal Element: Ill. Democrat Was Convicted Felon Before Being Elected”


Ill. Attny Gen to ‘Out’ Illinois Gun Owners

-By Warner Todd Huston

Recently the Associated Press asked the Illinois State Police for its list of Illinois gun owners. The police refused saying that the release of the names and addresses of all those registered firearm owners in Illinois would be a violation of their privacy but Illinois Attorney General Democrat Lisa Madigan disagrees with the police and has ruled that the list should be released to the press.

In Illinois anyone that wants to buy a firearm or wants to purchase ammunition and related supplies must register and obtain a Firearm Owner’s ID card (or a FOID). The card is also necessary for hunters that use firearms. Citizens do not have to get one of these cards in order to be allowed to have a gun, but they need one to legally purchase and buy supplies for them in the state. It is this registry that the press wanted released.

Democrat Attorney General Lisa Madigan, daughter of the state’s powerful Democrat majority leader Michael Madigan, has decided that the privacy concern is “invalid” undermining the State Police’s reasoning of r refusing to release the list. Madigan’s office released a letter to the press on Monday evening, February 28.

Currently there are no state laws that would prohibit the release of the registry but some Republican-sponsored bills are sitting idle in the House of Representatives.

The State Police have not announced what they intend to do from here.

This move is obviously a move by Democrat Madigan to intimidate Illinois gun owners hoping to make them fear that their names and addresses will suddenly be released to the media.
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Ill. Attny Gen to ‘Out’ Illinois Gun Owners”


Big Bonding‏

From For The Good Of Illinois…

“You can’t be for big government, big taxes, and big bureaucracy and still be for the little guy,” Ronald Reagan.

Springfield just hiked your taxes while increasing spending and ignoring any spending cuts.

Even after the largest tax hike in Illinois history, the budget still has an estimated $2 billion shortfall. What’s the plan to cover this shortfall? A pay day loan – $14.2 billion of new government debt. If you want to see significant cuts in Illinois spending, make sure you stop the massive “Big Bonding”. Click here to find out why.

Don’t let them stick you with their bill.
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Big Bonding‏”


Update on the Tax Increase

From the Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education Coalition…

Thanks to all of you who helped to send over 5,500 emails via our “No Taxation Without Education” campaign. Unfortunately, we got taxation without education and just a “promise” from our Governor to include $250 million for education in this year’s budget. Of course, we won’t believe that until it’s in writing. There was some support for increased money for education in the state senate, led by the Black Caucus, but we were told in Springfield that Mike Madigan and the House were not supporting additional money for education or anything else and wanted new revenue to go towards paying off our roughly $15 billion in debt and $8 billion in late bills, and that’s what we got. There was another opportunity for education money through the cigarette tax which would have generated $377 million for education but this was voted down in the House as well with only 51 legislators in support, and 60 votes needed to pass. While this isn’t the outcome we wanted, this $6 billion in new revenue to pay down our debt will likely result in fewer cuts to CPS next year. Clearly, we can’t be content with this and we need to continue to do everything we can to advocate for improved and sustainable funding for education in Illinois.

As you all know, we are currently 49th in the nation in terms of state spending on education. Our state covers roughly 30% of the cost of educating a child, as compared to about 50% on average. Local municipalities are left to fund the rest through property taxes, resulting in unsustainable and inequitable funding.
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Update on the Tax Increase”


Crook County, Illinois: Fake State Rep Casts Deciding Vote to Raise Our Taxes

-By Warner Todd Huston

She didn’t know anything about the bill. She never read it. She hadn’t been given any cheat sheets, facts sheets, talking points, or mass emails on the bill. But in true, corrupt Chicago fashion, she voted “yes” on it just as she was told to do by her corrupt party bosses.

Even worse, she was only a “state rep” because someone told her to drive to the state capitol for a week to “be” one. As Andy Shaw joked, Williams became the “somebody that somebody sent.”*

It is business as usual for Illinois, the most corrupt state in the Union.

You see, fake State Rep Kathy Moore of Lincoln Park was drafted by Illinois Democratic Party bosses to fill out the last week of elected State Rep John Fritchey’s term in office. Fritchey was elected to a spot on the Crook County Board and left his state rep seat to take that chair last November. So, Democrats fretted that Fritchey’s 11th District seat would be empty during this important vote to wildly raise everyone’s taxes.
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Crook County, Illinois: Fake State Rep Casts Deciding Vote to Raise Our Taxes”


Illinois: Death by Taxes

-By Dan Proft

During the Illinois General Assembly’s lame duck session, Democrat leaders have moved to abolish the death penalty at the same time as signing the economic death warrant for state’s economy.

In Illinois, it is law-abiding, working families who have been condemned.

Despite lllinois’ leading exports being its residents and businesses, the General Assembly has proposed raising the state income and corporate income taxes by 75% each. If this tax monster passes, at least two things are certain: one, Illinois businesses would pay the highest corporate income taxes in the free world; two, Illinois would see the largest mass exodus of productive people since the Israelites fled Egypt.

The data points about Illinois’ economic death spiral have been repeated so often as to have been stripped of their shock value. Bottom line: Illinois is a bigger default risk than Bernie Madoff and has created fewer jobs in the last decade than record stores.
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Illinois: Death by Taxes”


90 Democrats – and No Republicans – Voted to Raise Your Taxes

From the Illinois GOP…

In the remaining hours of the lame duck Illinois General Assembly last night and early this morning, ninety (90) Democratic State Legislators – and NO REPUBLICANS – voted for the largest tax increase in Illinois history, including a 67% income tax increase.

The tax hike now goes to Democratic Governor Pat Quinn, who, despite having promised in his recent campaign to veto any increase above 1%, will sign it into law.

Below is a list of the 90 Democratic State Legislators who voted to raise your taxes and their legislative office phone numbers.

State Representatives
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90 Democrats – and No Republicans – Voted to Raise Your Taxes”


Illinois: Our Last Chance to Stop the Highest Taxes in the World‏

From the Chicago Tea Party…

We can stop it…….

The Democrats don’t have the votes yet to pass their economy crushing, job killing, freedom stealing 75% tax increase. Governor Quinn, House Speaker Madigan and Senate President Cullerton came to an agreement last week on the proposed tax increase, but they’ve been unsuccessful in convincing enough Democrat members of the House and Senate to support this man caused disaster. Here’s what has taxpayers and businesses across Illinois looking up moving companies:

  • Your personal state income taxes will go up by 75%, increasing to 5.25% of your income.
  • State corporate tax rates will increase to 10.9%, making the taxes on Illinois businesses the highest in the industrial world.
  • Cigarette taxes will go up by $1 to $1.98 per pack. Even if you’re not a smoker, this will cause more people to cross the border into Indiana, Wisconsin & Missouri to buy their cigarettes (and other products while they’re there), costing the state more revenue. Keep in mind that Chicago is the state’s largest border city.

We have a structural budget gap in Illinois. The total budget gap is running at a staggering 40%, but the solution is not raising taxes by 75%. The only approach we can count on to solve Illinois’ budget crisis is to stop spending. We need to tell our representatives that we want them to vote NO to tax increases, NO to more spending, NO to more borrowing and NO to new government programs.

Representatives you should target
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Illinois: Our Last Chance to Stop the Highest Taxes in the World‏”


Illinois 75% Income Tax Hike on Hold, But Not For Long – ACT NOW!

-By Warner Todd Huston

Democrat Speaker of the House Michael Madigan adjourned the lame duck session in Springfield today without coming to a final floor vote on Governor Pat Quinn’s 75% raise in the State’s income tax. Obviously he didn’t have the votes to pass it.

Madigan and his waste-loving Democrats will spend the next few days twisting arms and pushing state legislators to sign onto the further destruction of the state’s finances all in an effort to continue giving paybacks and special, sweetheart deals to the State’s public employees unions.

The legislature may be reconvened Sunday to take a vote if Madigan can get enough votes together.

Republican Minority Leader Tom Cross said Friday that the Democrats have made little headway in identifying cuts in order to balance the budget. “They fall woefully short on cutting and committing to not spending new money. This is the exact reason we got into this mess…If they start spending and not cutting it will be the same mess next year and the year after.”
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Illinois 75% Income Tax Hike on Hold, But Not For Long – ACT NOW!”


Tell your lawmaker to vote NO on tax increases during lame duck session‏

From Americans for Prosperity, Illinois…

WOW! This year’s lame duck session in Springfield has been one of the most fast paced and productive sessions in recent memory. With only three days remaining, it appears that lawmakers will be receiving a formal legislative package that includes a request for a 75% increase in state income taxes.

It appears that the initial debate on the language will start in the House of Representatives. Our sources advise that Speaker Madigan is going to allow a straight up vote on the package. There is rumored to be 51 members in favor. In order to pass the House, the bill will need 60 votes. Therefore, it’ll be up to Governor Quinn to convince nine additional House members to move in favor of the tax hike. And so, this weekend, the hard lobbying will begin. The language of the full tax package is being drafted.

Below are the basic tenets of the package as we understand it today.
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Tell your lawmaker to vote NO on tax increases during lame duck session‏”


NoIllinoisTaxHike.com: Sign the No Tax Petition

Say No to the Illinois Democrats’ 75% Tax Increase

Sign the Petition at NoIllinoisTaxHike.com

Governor Pat Quinn, Senate President John Cullerton, and Speaker Michael J. Madigan (who’s also the Chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois) are trying to rush through a 75% Tax Increase in the final days of the lame duck session of the State Legislature.

This is the latest example of life in Illinois Madiganville.

While Illinois’ budget problems are grave, the answers lie in first attacking the excessive spending and enacting structural reforms that are needed before any new revenues are even considered. We cannot let the Democrats drive business out of Illinois and all of the jobs that go with it.

Madigan, Cullerton and Quinn talk a big game about reform and job creation, but they fundamentally lack the courage to make the tough decisions to put Illinois on solid financial footing. We are the only state in the union to push massive tax increases without accompanying spending cuts. Even other states with Democrat Governors like New York and California have recognized the need for cuts before tax increases. Reform exists everywhere but in Illinois Madiganville.

Please go to NoIllinoisTaxHike.com or to Madiganville.com to sign the online petition to send a strong and clear message to Springfield: Say No to the 75% Illinois Tax Hike!

Sponsored by the Illinois Republican Party. www.weareillinois.org

Please contact your State Representatives and tell them to VOTE NO on the tax hike. CLICK HERE for a list of our Illinois State Reps.


Ill. Policy Institute: Tax Hikes for Christmas

From the Illinois Policy Institute…

Governor Pat Quinn and House Speaker Mike Madigan want to stick a lump of coal in your stocking this holiday season — in the form of a lame-duck tax hike. They’re spoiling to raise taxes before the new General Assembly is sworn into office in mid-January.

Despite receiving less than 50 percent of the popular vote, Governor Quinn believes he has a “mandate” to pad his public employee union friends’ pockets while sticking Illinois families with the bill.

We’ve been here before. Remember 2009, when everyone said a tax hike was “inevitable”? Well, we stopped it then and, with your help, we can stop it again.
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Ill. Policy Institute: Tax Hikes for Christmas”


Democrat Corruption in Illinois: Michael Madigan, Rod Blagojevich, Tony Rezko, That’s What Friends are For!

The Democrats have a deep bench of corrupt officials that have all helped enrich each other at the cost to Illinois’ taxpayers. The Illinois Republican Party wants to remind you of how one Democrat hand helps the next to your money…

The video shows multiple photos of Illinois’ top Democratic leaders hugging, shaking hands or caught in an embrace with Blagojevich. It’s believed the first image of the photo montage which includes convicted felon Tony Rezko, seated next to House Speaker Michael Madigan and Blagojevich, has not been publicly released until now.

Sometimes we forget what friends are for. Mike Madigan. Pat Quinn. Alexi Giannoulias. Lisa Madigan. They all stood arm in arm with Blagojevich, despite claiming now that they knew he was corrupt.

The photos are accompanied by the song “That’s What Friends Are For.” Phrases such as “I’ll be on your side forever more,” take on new meaning for Democratic officials now trying to run as far away from Blagojevich as they can during this campaign season.

The people of Illinois need to know that this is the party that was on Rod’s side, not the people’s side, and look where that got us.


Rauschenberger on Ill. House Speaker Madigan: ‘We Impeached the Wrong Guy’

-By Warner Todd Huston

Steve Rauschenberger is running to once again take the 22nd State Senate seat and during his as we discussed earlier this week.

I’d like to highlight some stark truth that Mr. Rauschenberger uttered that night about the particular failures of the Democrat Speaker of the Illinois House, Mike Madigan. Rauschenberger thinks we should have impeached Madigan instead of Blagojevich.

“Mike Madigan has been Speaker of the Illinois House for 28 of the last 30 years. He is the architect of the worst funded public pensions in America.It’s time we hold the Chicago bosses accountable.”

We support Rauschenberger to retake the 22nd District Senate Seat.
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Rauschenberger on Ill. House Speaker Madigan: ‘We Impeached the Wrong Guy’”


Illinois, Tell Speaker Madigan to Open the Books!‏

From Adam Andrzejewski’s For the Good of Illinois…

On March 24, House Leader Tom Cross joined me in calling for a forensic audit of state spending. House Resolution 1057 requires the Auditor General to begin a forensic audit of state spending covering the Blagojevich/Quinn administrations.

We introduced HR 1057 with four goals in mind:

  • Stop Governor Quinn’s Income Tax Hike
  • Cut Spending
  • Eliminate Waste
  • End Corruption

In 2007, Auditor General William Holland issued a report indicating that the State of Illinois “…does not have a comprehensive, consistent inventory of programs.” This report highlighted that state government is so cumbersome and disorganized it could not prepare a list of programs it funds and operates on a daily basis.

Speaker Madigan, Open The Books!
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Illinois, Tell Speaker Madigan to Open the Books!‏”