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Rep. Ives Blasts House Dems, Says Illinoisans Don’t Want Massive Tax Hike

Written by John Biver

On Monday, the Illinois News Network featured as its top story the above headline with this lead:

State Rep. Jeanne Ives blasted her Democrat colleagues in the Illinois House for removing her as chief sponsor of a Senate bill that would increase taxes on Illinoisans by $5.4 billion.

For the record, Illinois Representative Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) is a staunch opponent of tax increases. So why in the world would she sponsor a tax increase? To publicly shine light on the true purpose of the bill and start a public discussion, which the Democrats apparently fear. 

The Democrats would rather have voters believe:

• the “estimated” changes to the state employee pension system will supposedly save over a billion dollars
• changes to state employee group health insurance will supposedly save $435 million

So the Democrats took the bill away from Rep. Ives and handed the sponsorship over to one of their own.

The Illinois News Network reports:

On the House floor, Ives said taking the tax hike bill away from her was a partisan move to prevent a bipartisan conversation on taxes from taking place. She said Democrats ignore the state’s poor business climate.

“No business, no jobs. No jobs, no people here. No people here, no taxes,” she said.

She referenced a recent Illinois Policy Institute poll that showed about half of those surveyed [said] “spending cuts should be the only tool used to close the budget gap.”

“Illinoisans do not want a massive tax increase,” Ives continued. “This is the last thing we should be doing. And for you to pull this bill from me simply shows that the Democrats are not interested in bipartisan support on what we should be doing with taxes.”

Democrats favor taking more of your hard-earned dollars to fund a bloated and poorly managed state government. State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia (D-Aurora), said “It’s time for courageous representatives and senators to do the right thing that might not always be the popular thing back home.”

And there you have it.

A follow-up article from the Illinois News Network, “House panel OKs $5.4 billion tax hike bill; vote by full House expected Tuesday,” included some of the real facts:

• “The bill passed by the Senate last week would increase the current individual income tax rate from 3.75 to 4.95 percent, retroactive to Jan. 1. That would make the actual rate for the rest of 2017 nearly 6 percent, if not more depending on when it goes into effect.”

• “Households earning $60,000 a year would pay an additional $720 in income taxes for the rest of 2017 (with total annual amounts paid to the state increasing from $2,250 to $2,970). Families earning $60,000 annually would pay an additional $102.86 monthly to the state for the remainder of the calendar year.”

The vast majority of Illinois taxpayers work and live in the real economy. They do not work for a Chicago metro area school district, where often the annual raises average 5 percent a year. They are not among the lucky ones whose pensions will be far greater than the average Social Security recipient. There’s a good chance they won’t be getting raises, their job will be outsourced, their company will be downsized or even leave the state.

State Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield), expressed frustration that “one of the things you don’t hear about in Illinois very much is increased revenue through growth.” That, unfortunately, is very true.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve growth, however, when Illinois is on the verge of having “the highest corporate tax rate in the United States,” according to Rep. Jeanne Ives.

Here was her response to having been removed from the sponsorship of SB 9 in the House:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-iP1xxBeSE

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