It’s Time for a Fair Tax in Illinois
By Ari Frede
Even before the pandemic hit, our state and city’s finances were already in a crisis with billions in unpaid bills. Shelters are closing, health care is under pressure, and education requires more investment to reinvent itself to exist online. With thousands out of work and many small businesses on the bubble in Illinois, a strong safety net is needed more than ever.
We are currently facing a dilemma to balance the budget: Either make massive cuts, or keep funding Illinois further into debt. But we do have a solution in front of us in November that will add $2.4 billion in revenue to our state budget: The Fair Tax referendum.
Illinois’ current tax is fundamentally unfair. By having everyone pay the same rate, people with lower income pay a greater share of their money than people with higher income. That's right: people who make $21,800 (the lowest 20%) pay twice their family's share compared to someone earning $537,400 (the top 1%).
Income is a scarce commodity, like toilet paper at the start of the pandemic. If you walked out of a store with only one roll of toilet paper and Illinois took an equivalent tax out of your valuable TP, every one of those sheets you pay would matter! But when the person next to you walks out with a jumbo pack, Governor Pritzker thinks they should give a little more than you do.
Under Fair Tax, you might put one sheet less, and the jumbo pack would give about 1.6 rolls instead of 1.5. That’s fair. It currently costs more to be poor in Illinois. A Fair Tax works for all Illinoisans.
Overall, 97% of Illinoisans will see either no increase or a reduction in taxes. The top 3% of Illinoisans will only see an increase in taxes on income above $250,000 - everything they earn below that has the same rate as everyone else. This is how we arrive at an equitable solution for Illinois, instead of applying the same rate across the board. You can even try out the Fair Tax calculator yourself by clicking here.
The 40th Ward Dems is part of a coalition of people advocating for this change - including community organizers, faith organizations, policymakers, and unions - and the legislature and Governor Pritzker are waiting for your help and support.
The Fair Tax referendum is an amendment to the Illinois constitution, so it must be approved by voters before elected officials can make any changes to taxes. The only thing it needs is your vote, and without that, it will fail. And if it fails, it means eventually drastically cutting funding for schools and services, right as we are trying to rebuild as a city and a state.
And we need your friends’ and family’s vote, so be prepared to talk about it! Tell your neighbors you are voting for schools, you’re voting for revenue, you’re voting for equity. You are voting for Illinois.
So mark your calendar: vote to pass the Fair Tax referendum on November 3, 2020. Click here to sign up for updates from the Fair Tax and reach even more people about this important movement.