As I told you yesterday, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn has come out in opposition to the governor’s gross receipts tax on business. There’s more today…
Quinn said he cannot support the governor’s proposed gross receipts tax, a lynchpin of Blagojevich’s 2008 state spending plan, because it is “regressive,” unfairly targets the working class, and provides no tax relief.
“I really don’t think this is a fair approach,” Quinn said.
Instead, Quinn proposed a competing plan that would target untapped “corporate loopholes” that he said could generate as much as $2 billion a year to be split equally between schools, health insurance and tax relief.
“I’d hope we could go to Plan B, and come up with a tax fairness plan that incorporates some of the ideas I’ve expressed,” the lieutenant governor said during an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.
More from the AP…
“The businesses pass it on. The ultimate consumer at the store suffers the burden,'’ [Quinn] said in a telephone interview. “The notion that everyday people will be exempt from this levy is not correct at all.'’
The Daily Herald has a bit of history…
The debate creates the somewhat unusual situation of a governor and his running mate publicly feuding over tax policies, something not seen since the mid-1980s when then-Republican Gov. James Thompson pushed an income tax increase and his lieutenant governor, George Ryan, came out against it.
Phil Kadner has the best lede…
Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn shouted that the governor of Illinois isn’t wearing any clothes.
And then ends his column this way…
So now we have two school funding reform plans.
The income tax plan and the gross receipts tax plan.
It’s looking more and more like the House will pass one version and the Senate another.
If that happens, the governor won’t have to sign or veto anything.
All of the state’s elected leaders will be able to claim they did something, when in fact they accomplished nothing.
That’s called political cover in the state capitol.
Quinn has chosen to expose the governor.
But the opposition didn’t come from just Pat Quinn. Comptroller Dan Hynes and Treasure Alexi Giannoulias both expressed strong reservations yesterday…
Comptroller Dan Hynes and Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias say they’re concerned about the Democratic governor’s desire to tax nearly all business transactions in the state. Hynes also criticized one of Blagojevich’s proposed uses for the revenue - universal health insurance - saying the state needs to first fix problems with the existing Medicaid system.
The Blagojevich administration said the officials are reacting to pressure from the business community. […]
“I think there is some sense of a lack of fairness in our tax structure as relates to how much corporations or businesses pay versus the individual,” said Hynes, comptroller for the past eight years. “I don’t think it’s quite as dramatic or drastic as it’s being portrayed.” […]
“I’m concerned they’ll end up leaving the state or going out of business, frankly,” Giannoulias said. “I understand the governor’s desire to help the working class and middle-income people, but I think … businesses are only going to take a certain amount of hits before they start passing these things on to consumers.”
But, wait, there’s more. Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago) is also not a happy man…
In another development that could complicate passage of a state budget, a top leader of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus told the Sun-Times that his group will withhold support for a budget unless it has four full days to review its details prior to a vote.
“We don’t want a middle-of-the-night vote,” said Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago), joint chairman of the caucus.
Meeks had a lot more to say than that. Check out this audio clip, supplied by our good friends at Metro Networks. It’s pretty harsh and is a must-listen…
Comptroller Hynes’ comments can be heard here…
Treasurer Giannoulias’ comments are here…
More…
* Blagojevich tax plan takes hits from both sides
“‘Lie’ is a strong word, but it’s a great mystery as to what happens over there,” [Hynes] said at a Statehouse news conference.
* Governor pushes “Tax Fairness”
Key Democrats oppose governor’s tax hike plan
*** UPDATE *** Here’s a snip from Quinn’s press conference today, supplied by Metro Networks…