Rep. Dan Swanson
After learning the state of Illinois collected $1.5 billion more in tax revenue than was expected in April, House Republican leadership last week argued that the good news is proof that new taxes are not needed to right the state’s financial ship. House Republican Leader Jim Durkin said the numbers are real, and we now have the money to balance the budget with no new taxes, no tax increases. He added that there’s no need to talk about raising taxes on bags, cigarettes, businesses or the middle class – and there is no reason to be even considering a graduated tax. State Representative Dan Swanson said if we can keep going forward with no new taxes, Illinois has a bright future. “Leader Durkin’s comments yesterday were spot-on,” Swanson said. “If we can continue on the path of not raising taxes affecting the middle class and affecting all of us in our communities with no increases to our taxes, Illinois has a bright future.” Last Tuesday, the greater-than-anticipated revenue was announced in a letter written by the Department of Revenue Director David Harris. As an immediate result of the strong April performance, coupled with revenue collections year-to-date, the State of Illinois will be able to address most of the $1.6 billion shortfall in the enacted FY2019 budget because of the April revenues alone. The Department of Revenue also raised its official estimate of next year’s tax collections by $800 million.
