•December 2, 2015•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

Gov. Bruce Rauner and Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan are taking themselves way too seriously over the state budget impasse—and in the process (or lack of it) they are seriously messing with the lives of seniors, the mentally ill, domestic abuse victims, and college students.

We can help resolve the stand-off by putting pressure on our local lawmakers to force their leaders to craft a budget now—if the lawmakers have the courage to stand up to their bosses.

I participated this past week on a panel discussion in Aurora on the future of Illinois with a savvy ex-legislator, a veteran political writer, and a budget expert. Their prognoses for the state’s future were grim.

The ex-lawmaker said he didn’t think the budget stalemate would be resolved until after the November 2016 election, which would mean a year-and-a-half without a state budget! He thinks lawmakers will not be persuaded to vote for the tax increases necessary to balance the budget until they are safely re-elected.

The budget expert—a moderate Republican—said that $8 billion in annual new revenue would be needed, at least for a few years, to balance the budget, pay off old bills and provide a stable, predictable fiscal future.

Eight billion dollars is the equivalent of an increase of two percentage points—from 3.75 to 5.75 percent—in the rate of the individual income tax, not that this is the only way to raise such revenue.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.