North Cook News

Republican Chairman of the Cook County Board of Commissioners Sean Morrison is sounding the alarm about the progressive income-tax system that Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been pushing to replace the state's current flat income-tax rate.

“What state government is looking to do with a constitutional amendment allowing them to remove a cap that could then be arbitrarily changed by the House or the Senate would be extremely dangerous,” Morrison told Chicago City Wire. “We all know Springfield has far from a great record when it comes to managing tax dollars, and we are already the highest accumulated-taxed state in the country.”

Morrison wants voters to think long and hard before approving the measure, which is set to appear as an amendment on the ballot in November. While the Democratic leadership has hailed the tax increase as one that would be felt only by the state’s wealthiest, Morrison remains more than a bit skeptical.  

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker

“I would point to the Lotto as an example of how the citizens of Illinois were duped by being told one thing and seeing something entirely different happen,” Morrison said. “This situation lends itself to the same kind of set up. With the Lotto, we were told all that money would go to schools in the state, which never happened.”

As for progressive tax systems in general, Morrison notes that such structures have not lived up to expectations in other states. In California, revenues have been barely half of what was promised, and Connecticut has lost more than $10 billion and 360,000 jobs since switching to a progressive income-tax rate.

Democrats continue to push the policy, and Morrison believes he knows why.

“The reason you can never cut government in the eyes of liberals is because they always want to have the jobs available that are part of big government,” Morrison said. “It’s all about being able to provide government jobs. Politicians don’t care about the private sector nearly as much. It’s government jobs because that’s where their base is.”