CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- It’s even better than reaching into a coat pocket and discovering a $50 bill.
Illinois has some “found money” as April revenues were more than expected and the Governor is canceling his plan to short this year’s pension payment. WBBM Newsradio's Dave Dahl reports.
The Pritzker Administration sent a letter to lawmakers Tuesday reporting $4.1 billion in individual and corporate income tax revenues in April. That number is $1.5 billion more than expected.
“We know some of it is attributable to changes in federal tax law,” said House Majority Leader Greg Harris. “Some of it’s attributable to success in the stock market. There are some revenue items which have come in and, with more cash coming in, we were able to pay a bunch of Medicaid bills and get a large piece of federal matching dollars.”
As a result, Gov. JB Pritzker is canceling his plans to skip next year’s pension payment. He will apply the money toward the required $9.1 billion payment to the state's underfunded pensions. He originally wanted to borrow money and delay the payoff schedule by seven years.
The chair of the Senate Revenue Committee, State Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D-Olympia Fields) won’t say ‘I told you so,’ but: “I remember the last argument we had about setting the income tax rates where they are currently,” Hutchinson said. “There were a lot of people who screamed that was job-killing and it was going to destroy the economy. Didn’t happen.”
The Comptroller released a statement urging caution.