Illinois Valley Times

During a Tuesday press conference, state Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon), pointed out what he sees as problems with the state budget for fiscal year 2022 approved by Democrats late night during its May 31 session.

According to him, the new budget includes more than $600 million in tax increases on businesses and $1 billion in pork spending on projects for Democratic-controlled districts, while failing to pay down the $5 billion in current debt in the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund.

“The lack of transparency, the lack of time to review a 3,000-page budget bill, and the lack of ability to have a robust debate on the floor about the budget have made it impossible for any legislator to really understand what is in the $42 billion spending point that passed yesterday,” Demmer said.

He noted that because of a lack of time to go through the lengthy bill, they only learned some of its details upon questioning the sponsor, which brought them frustration.  

“In order to balance the budget, it relies on $600 million in tax increases on Illinois businesses,” Demmer said. "These are changes that affect businesses’ ability to recover from the pandemic and limit the ability for businesses to claim operating losses year to year. One of the changes raises their taxes by limiting their ability to recover from those losses."

Demmer said Democrats are reinstating taxes that had been discontinued with bipartisan agreement.

“There’s also a tax that will now impose a corporate franchise tax. The Democrats broke previous agreement and are going back on getting rid of those taxes.”

Demmer also noted that there have been no allocations to pay down the unemployment insurance trust fund debt that, If not addressed, would result in three unwanted results:  “Lower benefits for individuals in the system; second, employers who pay into the system will see a tax increase; and third, the state will have to pay out of general revenue funds interest for every budget year until we solve the problem.”

He also cited as a misplaced priority the plan to direct federal funds intended to help states recover from the pandemic to pet projects in politically drawn districts.

Urging for transparency and true prioritization, Demmer said that Illinoisans deserve better.