Peoria Standard

Illinois Republicans are frustrated with the Democratic majority's budget proposal. 

State Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) joined a news conference last week to shed light on the budget's issues — namely, Democrats not accounting for billions of dollars in expected revenue. 

"All of our caucus members, as I said, are united in this," Tracy said at the May 27 news conference. "It was two years ago that Gov. Pritzker tried to make the case to the people of Illinois that the only way to fix our budget crisis was to pass his constitutional amendment to raise taxes by $3 billion. The voters weren't fooled and they certainly got it right."

Tracy said that Springfield has attempted to mislead Illinoisans again, and the state is expected to receive almost $8 billion more than originally estimated for the upcoming fiscal year. In addition to that, Illinois is allocated $8.1 billion in the upcoming federal COVID-19 relief package. 

"Let's not forget that the Democrats' income tax increases from 2011 to 2018 have brought in over $65 billion that came out of taxpayer pockets," Tracy said, "and yet it isn't enough for the governor as he tries to take money away from job-creating programs at a time when we need them the most."

According to Tracy, the programs introduced in the Capital Bill were originally touted by Pritzker as "essential job-creation tools."

"Unfortunately, what he once viewed as valuable job creation incentives he now calls loopholes in his effort to reverse his position," Tracy said. "Let me be clear, any tax increase as part of this year's budget must be off the table."

The senator said that plenty of capital is available to pay off federal debt, help the budget, contribute to the public school system and make a contribution to the outstanding pension debt bill. 

"We can do all this without further burdening job creators, students, our working families and our family farms," Tracy said, "and we can do it all without raising taxes."

According to The Center Square,Democrats insist that there is a $1.3 billion hole in the budget.

Republicans say this will not be the case for the upcoming fiscal year, and that there will also be an additional $792 million in base revenue for FY 2022.