Gov. Pat Quinn is set to give his budget speech to a joint session of the General Assembly on Wednesday. If there is to be any hope of starting to extract Illinois from its financial troubles, Quinn’s address needs to be focused and solution-oriented. Here are some things we hope for on Wednesday:
An actual speech. He should ignore those who object to President Barack Obama’s use of TelePrompTers and plug one in. It was amateur hour when Quinn delivered his state-of-the-state speech, a stream-of-consciousness stemwinder based off of notes jotted down on a yellow legal pad. Everyone knows Quinn fancies himself a man of the people. But he’s also chief executive of the fifth-largest state in the union. He has a responsibility to present a coherent set of well-thought out, specific ideas.
Full payment of $4.2 billion in pension obligations for fiscal year 2011. The state again borrowed money to make its pension payment last year. Now it owes the principal and more interest. If the state is ever going to stop sinking into fiscal quicksand, such shortcuts have to stop. Quinn should reject any suggestions from legislative leaders that the payment be skipped again.
Don’t recycle last year’s tax increase plan. It’s time to try something new. Quinn’s plan to raise taxes last year fell flat with lawmakers. It didn’t raise enough revenue, and it didn’t do anything to solve many of the state’s festering problems, mainly education funding. Comptroller Dan Hynes proposed a truly progressive income tax during the Democratic primary that would require a constitutional amendment. Quinn should steal that idea, use it as a starting point and demand that legislators put it on the ballot for voters to consider next year. The governor is fond of saying that “taxes should be based on the ability to pay. It’s a principle as old as the Bible.” It also goes along with his philosophy of allowing voters to decide things themselves at the ballot box. This amendment fits him like an old shoe.
Throw the Republicans a bone. The minority party is guilty of being demagogic on the issue of tax increases. Telling voters that the budget can be balanced without more revenue is a huge whopper. Quinn might be able to help himself among Republicans who are in touch with financial reality by embracing some of their good ideas. One of them was to create a commission of business leaders to study the budget and come up with money-saving ideas. Quinn created the commission but then never appointed anyone. He should do so immediately.
Don’t do this: As with most state budgets, some details already have leaked out. Quinn is proposing that proceeds that local governments share with the state from the state income tax be slashed. That’s an idea pushed by Republican gubernatorial nominee Bill Brady. It’s a very bad one. It doesn’t solve the problem — it merely shifts the pain.
State Journal-Register
