Illinois Valley Times

Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) has received Republican criticism anew after he proposed a new budget that provides $1B in tax relief at his State of the State address.

Pritzker’s state budget totals $112.5 billion, according to Patch. Of that, $45.5 billion would be from the state’s general revenue fund and the rest would be from federal funds.

"Listening to his address today it felt to me he was spiking the football," Sen. Win Stoller (R-Mercer) said. "It’s almost to me as if he was declaring mission accomplished. The reality is we still have the highest pension debt in the country, the worst credit rating of any state, inflation is raging, crime is out of control and last year 113,000 people left our state. We got this huge windfall this year fueled by the federal government, but we have not changed our underlying behavior. This budget increases spending by $2.5 billion. The revenue windfall is temporary."

Public employee pensions are a big part of the budget, according to Patch. A proposal from officials suggested using a portion of legal cannabis money for the rainy day fund. Part of that revenue is meant for paying off unpaid bills so the change requires action by the General Assembly.

"Money from COVID, that's what he's going to be using to quote-unquote kind of patch the budget instead of doing the real fundamental reforms that need to take place in this state," Sen. Minority Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) said, according to Patch.

"This behavior is what got us in this situation in the first place," Stoller said. "If spending increases are permanent why are the tax reductions temporary? Clearly, the governor is using election-year gimmicks. What we need (are) true budget reform and permanent tax relief."