State Senator Dale Fowler joined his republican colleagues at a press conference this week at the state capitol in support of Senate Resolution 27, which calls on the Illinois Senate to protect the will of Illinois voters and reject any progressive income tax measure that is introduced in the 103rd General Assembly.
“Families across our state are struggling and the thought of another tax on residents is outrageous and unwarranted,” said Senator Fowler. “Voters had the opportunity to vote on a progressive income tax more than two years ago and it was overwhelmingly shot down.”
In 2020, the “Fair Tax” Amendment fell more than 360,000 votes short of a simple majority and more than 760,000 votes short of a three-fifths majority of those voting on the question.
The 3,059,411 “No” votes cast against the proposed constitutional amendment were a majority (53.3%) of the votes cast on the question and were also a majority (50.2%) of the total votes cast in the November 2020 election as a whole.
“In a time where our state is seeing increased revenues, we should be looking to bring tax relief to our state,” said Sen. Fowler. “We must stay in-tune with the voters and constituents across our state and not bring this tax to the table. If we continue to tax more, our state’s residents will look outside of our state for better opportunities they can afford.”
The Governor’s Office has been sharing news of record growth and financial success. The General Funds base receipts are up $2.034 billion year-over-year, including the one-time federal ARPA reimbursements received earlier in the year. Illinois also has the second-highest effective tax rate and the highest corporate tax rate in the entire nation.
Senate Resolution 27 was read into the official Senate record Wednesday and now awaits to be assigned to a Senate committee.