Grassroots groups take fair-tax debate to people
Vote Yes for Fair Tax holds six news conferences across state on rescheduled Tax Day
Protesters call for an Illinois progressive income tax outside the state Capitol in Springfield six years ago. (Facebook/Vote Yes for a Fair Tax)
By Ted Cox
An umbrella group of grassroots organizations is using the delayed Tax Day this year in the pandemic to hold six separate news conferences across the state this week on the benefits of the Fair Tax Amendment on the ballot this fall.
Vote Yes for Fair Tax holds online news conferences Tuesday in Rockford, Peoria, and Metro East, followed by three more Wednesday in Chicago, its western suburbs, and Springfield in support of a graduated income tax and the referendum on the ballot in November to approve an amendment to the state constitution allowing it.
The usual April 15 Tax Day was delayed this year with the COVID-19 pandemic so that state income taxes are actually due Wednesday July 15.
“This seems like a very natural opportunity for us to make sure that people understand that 97 percent of Illinois taxpayers get a tax cut or pay no more when the fair tax passes,” said Jake Lewis, a spokesman for the group, on Monday.
He described the umbrella group supporting a progressive Illinois income tax as “a coalition of community groups, advocacy groups, labor organizations, small businesses, seniors, health and human-service organizations that have been working on this issue for years.” This “very impressive, strong coalition of more than 100 organizations from all around the state” will take their case directly to local residents through local news media via news conferences held through Zoom.
“If we weren’t in COVID times, it would be your typical stand-up presser,” he added.
“You’ll hear a number of different perspectives,” Lewis said, “but our message remains the same — that this is about fairness for the middle class, and the tax is about fairness for communities.”
The two go hand in: fair taxation to produce revenue that is then fairly distributed across the state. Like Gov. Pritzker, who’s made the fair tax a cornerstone of his administration, Lewis made the case that funding would go for schools and social-service agencies that have been “hollowed out” in previous decades, and are now even more critical in the pandemic.
“For years, there have been cuts to social-service programs. There has traditionally been a lack of funding for education,” Lewis said. “Fair-tax reform would really help deliver some of the fair funding that is needed in many places.
“You’ll hear a number of different perspectives, but our message remains the same — that this is about fairness for the middle class, and the tax is about fairness for communities.”
“These programs are needed now more than ever,” he added. “Over the last couple of decades, you’ve seen the hollowing out of state government, and you’ve seen significant cuts — especially during the budget impasse of a couple of years ago” under Gov. Rauner. “A lot of these communities and social-service providers haven’t recovered from that, and we’re seeing families that need more support.”
It’s not just tax fairness, he added, with 97 percent of Illinois taxpayers paying the same or less in income taxes, while only the top 3 percent making more than $250,000 pay more — up to a top tax bracket of just under 8 percent for those making $1 million, still less than the top brackets in Iowa and Minnesota. “In addition to that there’s also fair funding for a lot of these communities around the state that want to make sure that they have enough money for schools and strong health-care systems — more jobs and a better infrastructure.”
Lewis made it clear that Vote Yes for Fair Tax is not the Vote Yes for Fairness organization bankrolled by the governor. But they’re both trying to get the message out in the face of disinformation coming from opponents to a graduated income tax.
“We’ve seen in some of the other press conferences that have happened, especially from our opponents, that you’ll get a few leaders who speak statewide in general terms, but you don’t actually hear from someone who actually lives in, say, Peoria or Rockford or Metro East,” Lewis said. “We want to make sure that we lift up those voices of working Illinoisans who support this important change, want to see fair-tax reform, and who are fighting for it every single day.”
Those arguing against a fair tax “lead with false attacks and spin about what fair-tax reform actually does,” he added. “So obviously there’s a need to get that message out, and that message is delivered best when it comes from someone who lives in that community, who is a local leader in that community and is someone who has a voice that is trusted and respected. So that’s what these events are about on Tuesday and Wednesday.”
A statewide poll conducted earlier this year by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale found “support was robust” for a progressive income tax, with 44 percent strongly favoring a graduated income tax and an additional 21 percent somewhat favoring it. A majority favored it in all geographic breakdowns, with 73 percent of Chicagoans, 68 percent of suburbanites, and 55 percent of all other Illinoisans in favor.
It will need that support, as it requires a supermajority of 60 percent approval to amend the state constitution.
A study released last year by the Pritzker administration found that rural, downstate counties stood to benefit most from a fair tax, while another study conducted about the same time by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that all Illinoisans would benefit, as it could cut property taxes 10 percent and see the state economy grow $8 billion a year.
“We want to make sure that the organizations that we’ve been working with and the people who are fired up about this are able to speak directly to the press about it,” Lewis said. “The bottom line is, with Tax Day coming up, there’s a natural focus on taxes, and we want to make sure that people understand what the Fair Tax Amendment is all about.”