Rain clouds form above the Illinois Capitol on May 8, 2024, in Springfield. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | Chicago Tribune
Here’s the good news: Illinois lawmakers under Gov. J.B. Pritzker passed a balanced budget for the sixth straight year, protecting the state’s credit rating and continuing the relative fiscal stability that’s been consistent since the chaotic years of the Gov. Bruce Rauner-Speaker Mike Madigan political wars.
That’s about it for the good stuff, though. The bad — or at least worrying — news is that lawmakers approved more than $1 billion in new revenues to plug a shortfall for the coming fiscal year and to finance more spending for a wide variety of projects and programs. The budget the House sent to Pritzker in the wee hours Wednesday after a tumultuous night that made sausage-making look good by comparison strikes us as imprudent. The philosophy, if one can be gleaned from chaos, is spend what you can get your mitts on today and worry about tomorrow when it comes.
That’s akin to how some teenagers of our acquaintance think about money. But state leaders are supposed to be the grown-ups, led by the governor, guiding Illinois through what continues to be choppy fiscal waters. The grade we would give this year’s $53.1 billion budget is a C-minus, and that’s generous.
Why? Pritzker and fellow Democrats turned to an unusually wide array of cat-and-dog revenue raisers, aimed at keeping income taxes level for individuals. They included reducing how quickly businesses can write off their net operating losses from the pandemic era, sharply higher taxes on sports betting companies, a cap on the allowance retailers get for collecting and remitting sales taxes (more on that Monday), a new tax on firms that reserve and re-rent blocks of hotel rooms and more. That random assortment is the state-budget equivalent of looking under the couch cushions.
Even some Democrats are growing alarmed at the spending. As lawmakers were preparing to leave Springfield last week, Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, warned that next year’s budget is likely to feature yet another revenue shortfall, and that’s before lawmakers have to worry about coming train wrecks like the $700 million-plus funding cliff for Chicago public transit agencies. With Springfield having blown its wad on relatively “painless” revenue raisers this year, Crespo said, “There’s really only one place we can look at getting these revenues, and that’s taxpayers.”
Of course, this year is an election year for state lawmakers. Next year isn’t. Watch your wallets, Illinoisans.
Editorial continues here.
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