West Central Reporter

Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) recently spoke out against the Democrats' progressive income tax plan for ignoring the consensus of voters in opposition to any change.

"Once again, Democrat legislative leaders are assuming they know what’s best for Illinoisans and are ignoring the will of the people who a little more than two years ago resoundingly voted ‘NO’ to the question of changing Illinois’ income tax structure," Tracy said on her website. "Why do legislative leaders put an issue on the ballot if they are not going to abide by the vote?"

According to Illinois General Assembly, Senate Republicans have filed a resolution opposing a progressive income tax. The bill, SR0027, was filed on Jan. 25 and seeks to preserve the flat-rate income tax language as shown in the following text. 

"Opposes the reconsideration by the Illinois General Assembly of any constitutional amendment intended to change the flat-rate income tax language of subsection (a) of Section 3 of Article IX of the Constitution of Illinois," the Illinois General Assembly website said.

However, the fight for progressive income tax is continued by senators who voice their concerns about protecting taxpayers.

Sen. Robert Martwick (D-Chicago) is proposing that legislators revisit the progressive income tax that voters rejected. According to Illinois Policy, 53.3% voted at that time against the progressive income tax that targeted higher income groups with a larger tax rate than others.

Back in 2019, before the issue was put to the voters, Tracy was just as opposed to the progressive income tax Martwick mentioned. Then and now, she is calling for taxpayer safeguards against any forced change in the income tax structure.

"My concerns then, and my concerns now, are that forcing a fundamental change to our income tax structure, without any guaranteed protections for middle-income families, will only lead to further income tax increases," Tracy said. "Illinois families cannot afford to give Democrat leaders a blank check."

As reported by the Illinois General Assembly, Senate sponsors include John Curran, Sue Rezin, Neil Anderson, Dale Fowler, Terri Bryant, Jil Tracy, Sally Turner, Donald DeWitte, Steve McClure, Dave Syverson, Dan McConchie, Win Stoller, Jason Plummer, Chapin Rose, Craig Wilcox, Erica Harriss, Andrew Chesney, Tom Bennett and Seth Lewis.