Gov. James Thompson`s plan to increase state revenues by raising taxes remained in limbo. A brief meeting Tuesday between the governor and the four legislative leaders ended without progress on the issue that has dominated the spring session.
Senate President Philip Rock (D., Oak Park), the only legislative leader to support some form of a tax increase, said after the 15-minute summit meeting he did not believe the General Assembly will aprove any tax increase this spring.
”I think it`s dead,” Rock told reporters. ”We`re no further along than we were last week. There just doesn`t seem to be any serious movement . . . on the part of the Republicans.”
Rock, who later indicated he will continue to work for an increase in state revenues, singled out the House Republicans and Minority Leader Lee Daniels (R., Elmhurst) as being responsible for blocking any progress in negotiations on a tax-increase proposal.
Daniels, who met earlier in the day with his 49 fellow House Republicans, said there is more sentiment among GOP state representatives for cutting spending–as Senate Minority Leader James ”Pate” Philip (R., Wood Dale) has suggested–than for raising taxes.
”If you`re going to talk about a plan being dead, I guess you could ask where`s the leadership on his (Rock`s) side,” Daniels responded.
Daniels said it would take ”the very strong support of the Chicago delegation” to move forward the governor`s proposal to raise personal and corporate income taxes, as well as the gasoline tax, in the General Assembly. It would take, he added, ”the mayor doing more than saying he could favor a tax increase, actively working for increases with his membership, both the blacks and the white ethnics, and working with the speaker in terms of saying that `we the Chicago delegation need tax monies and we are willing to put up 35 votes to start with.` ”
But Rep. John Cullerton (D., Chicago), the floor leader for House Speaker Michael Madigan (D., Chicago), said Democrats could put ”34 or 35 votes” on a roll call for the tax proposal if they had a commitment from Daniels to supply the other 25 or 26 needed votes in the House.
Thompson needs 60 votes in the House and 30 in the Senate to win approval of his $1.5 billion tax increase.
Thompson also said Mayor Harold Washington should come to Springfield to lobby for the increase and it was the mayor`s ”job” to make sure all the Chicago Democrats supported the package.
A spokeswoman for Washington, who was en route to Chicago from a mayors`
conference in Nashville, said that the governor should work on building some unity among his Republican leadership team.
”The mayor feels he has shown his concern and interest that Chicago`s needs are met,” said Laura Washington, deputy press secretary for the mayor. Cullerton said in an interview that ”the basic philosophy of a tax increase could happen, but you`d have to have a commitment from Mr. Daniels that he is out there trying to get his own people to vote for it.”
With less than two weeks remaining before the legislature is scheduled to adjourn, Thompson and Lt. Gov. George Ryan remained cautiously optimistic about the package`s fate. None of the legislative leaders has ruled out the possibility a tax increase will be approved before the legislature adjourns June 30.
On Friday, Thompson altered his original proposal and has now asked legislators to approve a 40 percent increase in both the personal and corporate income-tax rates, raising the levy to 3.5 percent for individuals and 5.6 percent for businesses.
”Anytime we can get four or five people who are leaders in the state to sit down and talk about a program, there`s a possibility of a program,” said Ryan, who is the first lieutenant governor in recent years to be involved in legislative summiting. ”That happened today. Whether it`s going to happen again, I don`t know. I think it`s in trouble right now as the governor has proposed it.”
