SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS (KMOX) - Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker used the occasion of his State of the State address Wednesday - conducted virtually - to outline his plans for a balanced state budget.
The slimmed-down spending plan would not include any across-the-board tax increases, but relies heavily on federal stimulus money that has yet to be approved by Congress. Gov. Pritzker said about $1 billion would come in from closing some corporate tax loopholes, but the plan would not hurt small business. Federal grants would be used to aid small businesses in recovering.
"Their businesses are key to our economic revitalization, and they're the most immediate way for us to help those who are shouldering the burden from COVID-19," Pritzker says.
The Governor says he would not raise income taxes.
"I want middle-class Illinoisans to pay lower income taxes, not higher," he says.
However, he says it's a balanced budget - as required by the state constitution - and would close the current $3 billion deficit.
Not everyone agrees. Rep. Amy Elik (R-Alton) says it fails to include a plan to pay off $5 billion in unpaid bills.
"And there is no realistic plan to pay of the $4.3-billion the state recently borrowed," Elik says, as a Certified Public Accountant, she doesn't believe it's at all a balanced budget.
Rep. Avery Bourne (R-Litchfield) also says it's not a balanced budget.
"He presented a budget that, unfortunately, but not surprisingly is out of balance... and is only balanced based on gimmicks and a billion dollars of new taxes on small businesses and job creators," Bourne says.
Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) is the House GOP budget negotiator.
“We cannot continue to allow Gov. Pritzker independently to provide budget spin to try to support further tax increases, or to make the kinds of threats that we saw in order to push forward a tax increase that Illinois voters overwhelmingly said ‘no’ to," Demmer says.
The plan is to spend $41.6-billion for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, a 4.2% decrease from the current budget.
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