The headlines are all screaming about Illinois this morning. Check them out here, here, and even bloggy goodness, here.
Oh, the horror!
Oh, the injustice!
Oh, the vapors...
It seems that in the face of mounting state deficits and looming bankrupcy, the Legislature has decided to raise the income tax rate.
The rate increase from 3% to 5% will generate about $6.8 billion a year. A taxpayer who used to owe $1,000 would owe $1,666 instead.
Got that? Three percent to five percent. A 66% increase!!
The increase now goes to Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who supports the plan to temporarily raise the personal tax rate to 5%, a two-thirds increase from the current 3% rate. Corporate taxes also would climb as part of the effort to close a budget hole that could hit $15 billion this year.
When did a state income tax rate of 5% become the cause celeb of the day? When did a TEMPORARY tax increase, clearly designated to expire within a few years and designed to cover many of the problems caused by the financial meltdown, become a horror of national interest?
Well, my children, this all occurred when the GOP wrested the discourse from the need for civic investment to the sacrosanct status of business, and the profound evil of paying taxes for the maintenance of government services.
Framing one of the lowest income tax rates in the nation rising to one of the most moderate income taxes in the nation, as a 66% jump in taxes, is both highly misleading, and designed to inflame the numerically ignorant. To have both the New York Times and The Los Angeles Times lead with these headlines is both very irresponsible and a clear signal that the GOP is winning this debate.
And, of course, every Yacking Yap on TV and radio is decrying the destruction of the Business Community in Illinois as a result of this egregious act.
Shame on them...