Illinois races toward cliff

Words can't express how irresponsible these people are. The lame duck Illinois state legislature has passed a massive tax increase:

[Gov.] Quinn smiled and shook hands on the floor of the Senate around 1:30 a.m. after the Senate voted 30-29 for the bill, which would raise the personal income tax-rate by 67 percent and the business income tax rate by 46 percent.

Yes, you read that right. Increases of 67 and 46 percent.

“So here we are in the very end of this lame duck session on a late night putting more burden on the hardworking people of this state,” said Sen. Kyle McCarter, R-Lebanon. “Here’s an investment tip, put a lot of money into moving vans.”  [. . .]

“I can’t figure out how this plan does anything for our real problems. Our real problem is spending, the increased spending, the mentality that we have,” said Rep. Roger Eddy, R-Hutsonville. “We’ll continue to throw money into a hole that has no bottom.”

The winners and losers won't surprise anyone:

The Senate, which approved a similar-size tax hike in May 2009 with more of the proceeds going to education, was temporarily hung up over the concerns of the black caucus. But after a meeting with Quinn, Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, said education funding had been “worked on” with Quinn.

Sen. Emil Jones III, D-Chicago, said black senators received a promise from Quinn that he would designate $250 million more to education over each of the next four years. The money would be generated by the increased income tax and had originally been designated for property tax relief. The final bill eliminated the property tax relief, freeing up those funds, Jones said.

Senators also gave final approval to a House passed plan that would allow the state to borrow nearly $4 billion to make its annual payment for public employee pensions. The House approved the plan last year.

Unreal.

John Kass detects a small oversight:

They forgot to earmark some extra funds for that great, big wall.

You know, that wall they're going to need, 60 feet high, the one with razor wire on top and guard towers, equipped with police dogs and surrounded by an acid-filled moat.

The wall they're going to have to build around the entire state, to keep desperate taxpayers from fleeing to Indiana, Wisconsin and other places that want jobs and businesses and people who work hard for a living.

And on top of that wall, they'll need thousands of signs, to post our new state motto, the one reminding fleeing taxpayers that there is no escape:

"ILLINOIS: JUST WHERE THE @#$% DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?"

Or perhaps another slogan, such as "MADIGANISTAN: YOU CAN'T LEAVE … SOMEBODY'S GOT TO PAY FOR ALL OF THIS."

With the state billions upon billions in debt, and the political leaders raising taxes, borrowing billions more and not making any substantive spending cuts, we've reached a certain point in our history.

The tipping point.

Read the rest. And see Backyard Conservative, who has much more, including this tidbit:

...From the Tea Party Palatine:

If you thought California had the ugliest budget outlook in America, think again. California's deficit is at $21 billion, or roughly 20%, of the state budget. But in Illinois, the budget deficit of $15 billion is greater than 40% of the state's annual revenues.

And we haven't cut government SPENDING

Speaking of the devil, even California Gov. Jerry Brown seems to be catching a clue here and there:

Governor Jerry Brown of California issued his first executive order on Tuesday directing agencies to reduce the number of state provided cell phones for government employees by half by June 1 of this year.

“It is difficult for me to believe that 40 percent of all state employees must be equipped with taxpayer-funded cell phones,” Brown said in a statement. According to the press release, the state provides and pays the bill for 96,000 cell phones for that 40 percent of state employees.

The executive order requires that number to go down to 48,000 by June 1, 2011, though in the press release, the governor acknowledged that there could be some difficulties in doing that, such as not wanting to incur fees in order to break “contract obligations.”

Brown said he hoped to reduce the number of cell phones the state pays for even further.

“Even with a 50 percent reduction, one-fifth of all state employees will still have cell phones,” he said. “That still seems like too much and I want every department and agency to examine and justify all cell phone usage.”

He's making other cuts, too, while (of course) raising taxes.


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