Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) | Photo Courtesy of Jason Barickman Twitter
Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) | Photo Courtesy of Jason Barickman Twitter
State Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) believes the message Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) delivered about the state's financial situation during the annual State of the State address was "misleading at best."
Barickman's comments came after Pritzker talked about his budget proposal which included additional funding for education, public safety, and small businesses during the statewide speech on Feb. 2.
"We've been lucky here in Illinois and the concern I have is the governor's laying the groundwork for permanent spending increases that are going to straddle taxpayers in future years based on the decisions being made today," Barickman said.
According to a press release from the governor's office, Pritzker also hoped to provide some relief to taxpayers by postponing the hike in the gas tax, freezing the state's tax on groceries, and providing a one-time payment in the form of a rebate for property taxes.
"It looks like the governor is proposing temporary tax relief coupled with permanent spending increases and while that might sound good today, we know that will cause problems for Illinois in the future," Barickman said.
Under the proposed budget, "unprecedented payments" would also be put toward the state's rainy day fund and state pensions, according to the release.
"Illinois has long been plagued by overspending and political leaders who are unwilling to make the reforms necessary to the government and what we're seeing, is more of the same of that," Barickman said. "It's clear the governor is pandering to voters this election year and his budget is filled with one-time gimmicks."
According to a report published on Patch, the total for Pritzker's state budget came to $112.5 billion.
The article pointed out that less than half of the proposed budget would come from the state's general revenue fund, the remaining $67 billion wound be paid for through monies received from the federal government.
The report also highlighted that public employee pensions made up a large portion of the budget.
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