IL governor congratulates lawmakers for raising state income tax 66%

By Rick Moran

Illinois Democrats passed a whopping 66% increase in state income taxes in a lame duck session. Governor Pat Quinn congratulated his party members:

"A lot of them are my friends and we worked together in campaigns and we believe in working together in important things that help children," Quinn said when reporters caught up to him after the Senate vote.

Asked if there was a lot of horse trading to win support, Quinn said "not really. Everybody voted their conscience."

They also increased business taxes 46% in a state where the tax base has been disappearing for a decade.

Not a single Republican voted for the measure - even those who were retiring or defeated in the November election.

And this is cause for congratulations and celebration? In the cloud cuckoo land of Democratic politics in Illinois, you betcha.

And don't let anyone tell you that this is for "deficit reduction." In order to get the support of black lawmakers, Quinn promised to spend a billion dollars over the next 4 years on schools. No doubt other uses will be found for all that cash besides solving the state's massive fiscal crisis.

What's needed in Illinois is an intervention. Some addiction expert should sit down with these clowns and gently point out that in the midst of a crisis where the state can't pay its bills and some merchants have waited a year for the state to make good on its purchases, you don't go and spend a billion dollars even on a worthy cause like "the children." By this time next year, it will be back to business as usual in Springfield - except the taxpayers will be poorer and businesses will be scarcer.