Illinois

Illinois Senate Overrides Rauner's Budget Vetoes

The Illinois Senate voted to override Gov. Bruce Rauner's vetoes of a budget plan and income tax hike sent to his desk on Tuesday. 

Rauner vetoed the measures shortly after the Senate sent them to his desk, taking particular issue with the tax increase that was part of a revenue plan among three bills passed in ongoing negotiations to enact the state's first budget in over two years.

"I just vetoed Speaker Madigan's 32% permanent income tax increase," Rauner tweeted Tuesday afternoon. 

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"This budget package does not provide property tax relief to struggling families and employers," Rauner said in a statement. "It does not provide regulatory relief to businesses to create jobs and grow the economy. It does not include real term limits on state elected officials to fix our broken political system."

The Illinois Senate then quickly moved to override the Republican governor's veto, while Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan has also said he will push to override. 

“The General Assembly came together to seek compromise,” Democratic State Sen. Jacqueline Collins said in a statement. “It was not easy to make this deal, which contains many items I, too, deeply dislike. It was nevertheless the responsible course of action, and one we should have carried out years ago. I urge the governor to sign these measures into law and end the budget impasse.”

Still, some Republicans called it a "disappointment."

"Raising taxes and failing to address any of the fundamental issues that plague our state is detrimental to taxpayers," State Sen. Dan McConchie said in a statement. "We’ve seen this before and it doesn’t work. This is the exact same failed approach the state took in 2011—increase taxes without addressing the underlying issues hurting our state. Continuing the mistakes of the past will not bring us a brighter future. This budget plan is bad for businesses and especially bad for families, and it certainly isn’t attracting people and businesses to Illinois. We had a real opportunity to come together and find bipartisan compromise. Unfortunately, today was a missed opportunity." 

What Happens If Illinois Lawmakers Don't Pass a Budget?

The state narrowly avoided a downgrade to “junk” bond status with the House's passage of the budget plan on Monday.

The measure would raise the personal income tax rate from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent and the corporate tax rate from 5.25 percent to 7 percent.

The tax hikes are projected to raise roughly $5 billion at a time when Illinois has a $6.2 billion annual deficit and a $14.7 billion backlog of overdue bills.

Dozens of lawmakers in the House left Springfield before session, eliminating the chance of an override vote on Tuesday. They will likely vote on Thursday when they're scheduled to return. 

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