McLean County Times

For the past two years, the idea to increase Illinois taxes has been discussed. State Senator Sue Rezin spoke about threats of a tax increase on Jan. 25.

"Two years ago countless threats were made that taxes would be increased on the people of Illinois if they did not vote for the progressive tax," Rezin said. "The voters rejected it anyway. They know what's best for their families. Yet here we are with the record revenues talking about increasing taxes on families again."

According to Illinois General Assembly, Sen. John Curran filed the resolution in opposition to a progressive income tax on Jan. 25. The Senate Republicans all signed on as co-sponsors.

Senate Resolution 27 has a total of 19 sponsors and was referred to the Senate Committee on Assignments.

The resolution states that the Senate Republicans are staunchly opposed to a progressive income tax in Illinois and they oppose the announcement that the Illinois General Assembly wants to the reconsider any constitutional amendment intended to change the flat-rate income tax language in the state's constitution.

"Illinois' General funds base receipts are up $1.7 billion and if you include the one-time federal ARPA reimbursements received earlier in the year, the year-over-year increase improves to over $2 billion," Rezin said.

Rezin explained that Illinois families suffer when there's a tax increase since they currently struggle as is. Instead of a progressive tax, she proposed the idea of a tax relief package.

"It's time for tax relief, not tax increases," Rezin said. "Illinois families need real permanent tax relief like the package the Senate Republicans presented last spring. Illinois families do not want more taxes that they can't afford. They made that clear when they overwhelmingly rejected the previous Amendment two years ago. I'm proud to sign on to this resolution and protect them."