By Paul Kersey, Illinois Policy Institute -
A coalition of progressive groups is beginning to coalesce around a proposal to create a progressive income tax in Illinois. Under their plan state income tax rates will increase as one reaches higher incomes, up to a top rate of 11 percent for incomes over $1 million. This plan would leave Illinois with one of the highest income tax rates in the country, increase Illinoisians tax bills by more than $8 billion, and would most likely drive entrepreneurs and jobs from the state.
And if one digs beneath the surface of this plan, one finds government employee unions as a major source of money for supporters of the tax.
Among the earliest advocates of this tax has been the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and its executive director Ralph Martire. Martire has been a regular on the policy lecture circuit, hawking the progressive tax as the best way to solve what he considers a funding shortfall in Illinois state government. According to union financial reports filed with the Department of Labor, CTBA has been a major beneficiary of union largess, taking in $75,000 from AFSCME District Council 31, $30,000 from the SEIU Illinois State Council, and another $25,000 from SEIU Local 73 -- all of that in 2011 alone.
Citizen Action Illinois is another group that is pushing for a "soak the successful" tax plan, and it has also benefited from a $100,000 donation from AFSCME. More HERE
