Elections - November 2010
(2010-10-15)
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Democratic Governor Pat Quinn supports an income tax hike that would reduce the deficit, though it would not eliminate it. Republican nominee Bill Brady wants to cut all areas of the budget by 10% or more.
Those are not the only ideas out there. The other three candidates who will appear on the ballot also have proposals.
Green Party nominee Rich Whitney wants to raise the state income tax rate from 3% to 5%, which is higher than Pat Quinn's most recent proposal. He would increase the earned income credit and family income credit so it would shield roughly the bottom 60% of income earners.
Whitney also wants to tax financial transactions identified as speculative trading, he says the state should legalize and tax marijuana, and he says the state should cut spending by roughly $2 billion.
Whitney is an attorney from Carbondale. You can read his budget proposal here.
Libertarian Party nominee Lex Green wants to reduce state spending by $10 billion. He says government should protect individual rights and maintain infrastructure. He says anything beyond that is an expansion of government beyond what the state can afford.
His proposed education cut is severe: an 18% decrease in general state aid to schools, along with eliminating several dozen grant programs.
Green acknowledges this would shift more of the school funding burden to property taxes, but says that fits with his support for more local control of schools.
Green works at the Mitsubishi plant in Bloomington-Normal. You can learn more about his budget plan here.
Independent candidate Scott Lee Cohen says his budget plan would reduce the deficit by $10.5 billion over four years. He says it's unrealistic to think spending can be cut by that much in a single year.
Cohen says the state would probably have to rely on borrowing the first year, though he says borrowing is never a good thing to do to pay bills. But Cohen says he would rather borrow than raise taxes.
In fact, Cohen has pledged not to raise taxes. However, some taxpayers would pay more - Cohen wants to close what he calls "loopholes" for millionaires.
Cohen would cut 3% across-the-board from the state's operating budget in the first year. He would audit state government to find waste.
Perhaps the most unusual budget idea out of Cohen's campaign is called participatory budgeting. Residents would vote directly on how some of the state's money is spent.
Cohen is a pawn shop owner from Chicago. You can find out more about his budget plans here.
Thanks to Illinois Public Radio
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