Lawmakers deny voters right to decide on tax fairness

Despite strong support from the public – and an unprecedented push by over 100 organizations – the General Assembly missed the deadline to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would have made the state’s income tax fairer and provided desperately needed revenue.

The Fair Tax Act would have allowed voters to decide whether Illinois should stick with its current “flat” income tax – which has middle class workers paying the same tax rate as millionaire CEOs – or allow for tax rates that would be lower for people with lower incomes, and higher for the wealthy and large corporations.

Unfortunately, neither the House nor the Senate held votes on the amendment, even though many lawmakers have voiced their support and polls showed strong majorities of voters supporting the idea.

“A fair tax would finally allow us to fund priorities that have gone neglected for far too long,” Council 31 Executive Director Henry Bayer said. “It’s a shame the General Assembly wasn’t willing to let the people have their say on this crucial issue.”

Illinois citizens want the right to make this decision for themselves. A statewide poll found that 92 percent of voters agree that “the tax system in Illinois is broken and needs to be fixed,” 82 percent say that “too often, rich people avoid paying their fair of taxes” and 77 percent support an amendment to allow a fair tax in Illinois.

Council 31 was one of more than 100 organizations involved in A Better Illinois, the campaign to bring tax fairness to Illinois. AFSCME members have seen the devastation caused by broken budgets – layoffs, privatization and harmful cuts to essential public services.

While the General Assembly failed to put the issue before voters this fall, the campaign isn’t over – the effort to put the fair tax on the ballot will continue. In the meantime, AFSCME is urging legislators to make the temporary income tax increase permanent to prevent devastating cuts that would weaken Illinois further.