North Cook News

Joan McCarthy Lasonde, who is running for state Senate in District 9, is staunchly opposed to a proposed 1 percent property tax hike recently made by a trio of economists from the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago.

The additional taxes would cover the state's unfunded pension liability, which officials estimate currently stands at more than $129 billion.

"Without a doubt, a 1 percent property tax hike will devastate families," Lasonde recently told the North Cook News. "This would be the third tax hike imposed on hardworking taxpayers in seventh years resulting in a huge financial burden – a burden taxpayers don’t deserve and can’t afford. 

Joan McCarthy Lasonde

"The first hike was in 2011 when the legislature raised the flat tax rate on individuals from 3 percent to 5 percent.  The second was last year when the legislature, including my opponent Laura Fine, voted to raise taxes by a record-breaking 32 percent (following the 2014 reduction to 3.75 percent) over the governor’s veto. This Laura Fine/Mike Madigan 32 percent tax hike is really hurting families in our district."

Lasonde pointed out that Illinois is already 45th in the nation for the highest property tax burden and hiking the tax even 1 percent more will make it the worst in the nation, and is far from the responsible decision to make.

"When professional politicians, including my opponent Laura Fine, hike our taxes it’s because they are not doing their jobs and they are taking the easy way out," Lasonde said. "Rather than doing the hard work which we elected them to do and finding ways to reduce spending, government redundancy and waste, they force taxpayers to pay for their bad decisions and lack of results. My opponent Laura Fine failed taxpayers when she voted for the Fine/Madigan tax hike which raised our income taxes over 32%."

But the situation is not hopeless, and Lasonde has some ideas for bringing some much-needed reform to the state and this situation in particular.

"There are many reforms which should be implemented," she said. "When I get elected to the state Senate I will focus on finding ways to: Reduce the number (of) over 7,000 units of government in Illinois ... (which) is over 1,000 more units than any other state in the U.S.; reduce the number of government employees by 10 percent through retirements and departures (not firing anyone); reduce government red-tape to help businesses create more jobs and as a result create more tax revenue; cut waste, fraud and abuse out of government programs; require state government retirees to start contributing to their health insurance benefits; and reduce legislator pay each year they don’t reach a balanced budget even though one is required by law (Or go back to Leslie Munger’s #NoBudgetNoPay)."