While your attention may have been diverted by the circuslike governor’s primary, activists have been methodically working behind the scenes to deal with the biggest state issue of our time: fair taxes.
I realize this isn’t half as interesting as, say, Governor Rauner’s curiously Nixonian aversion to legalizing recreational marijuana, as though it’s a demon weed driving our country crazy.
Or we could search for progressive ways of raising taxes and implement a fair tax, as the responsible budget coalition would put it.
Of course, any proposal to raise the sales tax would raise a huge ruckus. We learned that last year when Cook County Board president Toni Preckwinkle imposed a soda pop tax. The county board rescinded that tax after a grassroots rebellion, which was largely underwritten by Big Soda.
They’ve yet to figure out the details. But conceivably, you could lower the rate for people in the lower tax brackets, raise the rate on the Rauners and Pritzkers, and still have more money flowing into the state coffers.
If the past is a indicator of the future, you can bet house speaker Michael Madigan will look to protect Democratic legislators in swing districts from having to vote for any tax hike—no matter how progressive—that might leave them vulnerable to a barrage of Rauner-funded mailings blasting them as tax-and-spend liberals.
