SPRINGFIELD, IL… State Representative Mark Beaubien (R-Wauconda), chief budget negotiator for the House Republicans, said he does not support Governor Pat Quinn’s proposal for the largest income tax increase in Illinois history. Quinn’s proposal amounts to $7 billion in income tax rate increases, loophole closings, tobacco tax increases, license plate increases and other fee increases.
Among the key components of the Governor’s budget plan: raising the $78 license-plate sticker fee to $98, increasing the cigarette tax up by an additional $1-a-pack over 2 years, raising the income tax by 50% (from 3% to 4.5%), increasing the corporate tax rate from 4.8% to 7.2%, and cutting approximately $850 million in state spending.
“I’ve been working with state budgets for a long time and I know that we’re not going to be able to tax our way out of this problem as Governor Quinn is hoping,” said Beaubien. “He wants to take money out of the pocketbooks of middle-class families in order to close a gaping budget hole.”
“But revenue from higher taxes will fall short of projections because people will simply change their habits to shield income,” added Beaubien. “Taxing businesses in this economy will be devastating. People won’t expand their businesses, they’ll leave the state or go out of business. It’s very counterproductive if you want to create jobs and help the economy. We need to eliminate wasteful spending so that we can live within our means instead of taxing middle-class families to justify even more spending.”
Beaubien is serving his seventh term as state representative in the Illinois General Assembly. The 52nd District includes all or parts of the communities of Barrington, Wauconda, Round Lake, Cary, Ingleside, Island Lake, Fox Lake, Lakemoor, Volo, Tower Lakes, Fox River Grove, McHenry, Crystal Lake, Holiday Hills, Prairie Grove, Johnsburg, Wonder Lake, and Woodstock.
