Progress Illinois

Amidst a recession, it's so easy for candidates (and editorial boards) to demagogue against proposed income tax hikes.  Therefore, it's rare to see public arguments in favor of tax reform made with the subtlety and perspective that's required both to understand and address the Illinois' structural deficit. But in an editorial over the weekend that pivoted off of last week's Paul Simon Public Policy Institute poll on the state budget, the State Journal-Register delivered.

Hoping to educate Illinois voters, who "haven't the foggiest clue about the simple and cruel math of Illinois' state budget," the paper lays out in clear detail just how much would have to be cut from its general fund to balance the budget (nearly $1 out of every $3 spent). They also drive home a point that is too often lost in this debate: Illinois government is not overspending. From the piece:

But here’s the reality. This is an economic problem. There isn’t $12 billion in waste, inefficiency and corruption to trim. The amount of money our corrupt politicians and their cronies have pillaged is a rounding error in the millions, not billions. [...]

People hate to hear it, but the cumulative amount of taxes paid in Illinois, while overwhelmingly regressive and favorable to the rich, is low. Illinois’ state and local tax burden is 30th nationally. We have the lowest per-capita number of state employees in the nation. The average pensioner brings home $28,000 a year, not the outrageous six-figure pensions we’ve read about that are associated almost exclusively with politicians and creative, double-dipping bureaucrats.

Here’s what cutting our way out of this problem means: Laying off more state prison guards; releasing inmates early; laying off police officers, firefighters, teachers and state workers; cutting aid to the mentally ill, alcoholics, drug abusers and the disabled; and slashing aid to schools and local governments. Making those cuts will hurt people and send Illinois’ economy into a death spiral.

SJ-R finishes the piece by making a wise suggestion to voters: Reject any politician who threatens to hold the state's budget process hostage by calling first for small-bore reforms or who says "things can be solved by just making nips and tucks and magically creating private sector jobs."

Why? Because "they have just lied to you."

Real talk. Read the whole thing here.