We need to repair our transportation system, but we don’t need to increase your taxes. It hurts and frustrates me to see our governor and my friend, George Ryan, break his promise to Illinois citizens. Elected with 52 percent of the vote, every constituency that he gathered to win was important.
He said during the recent campaign, “I think people already pay enough taxes. I pledge I will not raise taxes.” And, “Raising taxes in a time like this–prosperity–is unconscionable.”
He said that, as governor, he would make sure that government lives within its means.
In fiscal year 1999, our state government will grow 7.6 percent while the rate of inflation will be approximately 2 percent. Surrounding states are refunding and reducing taxes.
We do need to repair existing roads and to build new ones. To the degree we can, we should help local school districts with their building programs. We should even invest in our commuter rail and transportation system, so the congestion and burden on our roads is relieved.
But we should accomplish these goals within our current means. In a $40 billion state budget, approximately $20 billion is within our direct control in General Revenue Funds. If we improve productivity just 3 percent, we would generate the $600 million that the governor is now seeking in tax increases. Can anyone seriously argue that Illinois state government could not be run just 3 percent more efficiently?
Perhaps we could start by just saying “no” to the 20 percent increase in the governor’s office budget. Or maybe we could say “no” to the 15 percent to 20 percent increases requested for other constitutionally elected officers’ budgets. Maybe we could find out why surrounding states spend approximately only 7 1/2 percent of their departments of transportation funds on administration, but Illinois spends more than 10 percent (in a budget exceeding $1 billion, this represents “real money”).
Finally, many of the people whom I serve are asking the very fair question, “Hey, what’s the hurry?” If we slowed down this process, we could require answers to some essential questions. Why are we “diverting” $527 million of the gas taxes that are supposed to be spent on roads to other uses? (It’s like the lottery is supposed to go to education, but doesn’t.) Is every one of these projects necessary? Have we forgotten to include others that are more important? What assurances are we being given that we’re getting our fair money’s worth from road builders? How do we avoid future scandals like the recent Palumbo criminal case? If there is a billion dollars allocated to projects where there will be local matching funds, doesn’t that mean that there is a billion dollars of increased property taxes? And, the list goes on. The answers are important to get–before we spend your money.
More than 13 years ago, Gov. James Thompson, with the approval of the General Assembly, obligated a generation of state taxpayers to $2.3 billion in the Build Illinois program. We still owe $2.03 billion of this liability. It seems to me that we should resolve this debt before we obligate the next generation to $12 billion.
I voted “no” in order to keep our campaign promises, to slow down this spending bonanza, to increase efficiency in government and to live within our means without a tax increase.
