Everyone knows Illinois faces huge fiscal and economic problems. As a candidate, Bruce Rauner decried those and promised strong action to fix them. But by going light on specifics, he allowed voters to think they would not be inconvenienced by the solutions.
He deserves credit from dropping that pretense in his inaugural speech today. Rauner vowed “to fix years of busted budgets and broken government; to forge a path toward long-term prosperity and a brighter future,” as any new governor would have promised. But he also gave notice to all: “Each person here today and all those throughout the state will be called upon to share in the sacrifice so that one day we can again share in Illinois’ prosperity.” He didn’t pretend that vague budget cuts or miracle tax cuts would banish our woes.
This realistic approach is overdue and essential to sucess. In a budget crunch like we have today, taxpayers will have to pay more than they reasonably ought to, even as some programs will have to make do with less than sound policy ordinarily would recommend.
With the right decisions, things can improve so that the economy will flourish, state revenues will rise and tax burdens can be eased. But first we need the right decisions. If they don’t hurt, they won’t be the right decisions.
