Unions, pols rally online for Fair Tax Amendment

‘We can vote for the change we want to see in Illinois,’ says Lt. Gov. Stratton, warning against statewide tax increase

Soon-to-be Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton speaks at a get-out-the-vote rally in Chicago two years ago. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)

By Ted Cox

Deprived of mass rallies by the pandemic, leading labor leaders and state politicians staged a “virtual rally” online Thursday in support of the Fair Tax Amendment.

Calling this fall’s vote “the most consequential election in our lifetime,” Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton said, “We can vote for the change we want to see in Illinois and throughout the country.”

Although the main election is for president between incumbent Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden — prompting many of the speakers to urge early voting and voting by mail — at the top of the ballot in Illinois is the Fair Tax Amendment, altering the state constitution to allow a graduated income tax.

“This is a generational opportunity to fix something structural,” said Daniel Biss, the former state senator and gubernatorial candidate now running for mayor of Evanston in an upcoming election. He blamed the current flat tax for the state’s chronic funding problems, saying it “guarantees that we’re going to be asking the middle class and the working poor, working families to pay too much, while the wealthy get off the hook.”

He called the demand for a flat income tax in the 1970 state constitution “one of the biggest mistakes that has been made in the history of Illinois,” adding, “So many problems in our state have flowed directly from that.” He labeled the proposed graduated income tax “an opportunity to fix that mistake.”

“The tax system in Illinois is fundamentally unfair,” Stratton said, echoing Gov. Pritzker in insisting that billionaires like him should not be paying the same 4.95 percent flat tax rate as middle-class workers and those making the minimum wage. Calling it an “outdated system,” she said, “Voting yes on the fair tax means addressing the massive budget crisis and putting Illinois on the path to fiscal sustainability.”

Many speakers repeated the mantra that the progressive income tax that passed the General Assembly last year and was sent on to voters this fall would cut taxes or leave them the same for 97 percent of Illinoisans, anyone making $250,000 a year or under. Those making more than that would pay just a bit more, up to a top tax bracket of just under 8 percent for those making more than $1 million a year.

Bob Reiter, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, said that if they were at one of their traditional campaign rallies he’d ask those making more than $250,000 to raise their hands and few would do so — “if any,” added Tim Drea, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO.

U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” of Garcia of Chicago cited a recent study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy finding that a regressive flat tax placed the burden disproportionately on middle-class and low-income workers, especially affecting Hispanic and African American communities.

“Our communities are hurting and we need real solutions,” Garcia said. “Our tax system is broke and we need to fix it.”

State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth said a graduated income tax would help create “a stronger and better Peoria” in her district. “Our current tax system does not help those who are middle class and lower income. It helps those at the upper incomes of that pyramid, and we have to change it. It is our time to do that.”

“Our current tax system does not help those who are middle class and lower income. It helps those at the upper incomes of that pyramid, and we have to change it. It is our time to do that.”

State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth (Zoom)

She echoed Garcia in insisting, “It especially puts a burden on communities of color.”

“It’s flat-out wrong,” Garcia added. “The status quo isn’t working.”

“Now more than ever working people need support,” Reiter said. “Those at the very top continue to make record profits. Our economy is rigged.

“Working people have a chance to have our voices heard directly at the ballot box,” he added. “This is about us.”

“We can help right a very longstanding wrong,” Gordon-Booth said. “The fair tax is for you, it’s for your family, and it’s for your community.”

“It’s time,” Drea added. “It’s time to stop the regressive tax system we have in Illinois. This is permanent. This is what working families need in this state.

“Passing the Fair Tax Amendment will protect workers and invest in workers, invest in Illinois, invest in our schools, invest in our infrastructure,” he said. Calling it “the answer to Illinois’s problems,” he added, “I want to live in an Illinois that invests back in the people who need a break.”

Stratton warned that, given the state’s fiscal problems and the need to balance the budget, failure to endorse a progressive income tax would mean that taxes would have to be raised 20 percent on all taxpayers, to a rate of about 6 percent. “It will only serve to deepen the dramatic inequities that we already see across the state. It will drive out our residents, and it will drive out investments in Illinois.”

By contrast, she added, a graduated income tax would have “a positive ripple effect, allowing us to better and more adequately fund our schools and other important programs along with lowering property taxes.”

Stratton joined many of the other speakers in urging Illinoisans to vote early in person when it becomes available in their areas, or to request a mail-in ballot. She quoted Barack Obama in calling cynicism “the central strategy of voter suppression.”

“The president is already sowing seeds of doubt in the results of a close election,” she said. “He is refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, and he’s moving swiftly to fill the seat of Ruth Bader Ginsburg should the Supreme Court be tasked with determining the outcome of this election. The surest way to win this election is by an overwhelming margin, driven by massive, unprecedented voter turnout.”

Gordon-Booth called a graduated income tax “a critical piece” of creating a more fair society, saying it would “fundamentally change the trajectory of this state” by calling “for all people to pay their fair share.”

She added, “Now, essentially, Illinois, this is in your hands.”