The governor wants people to vote to raise state income taxes on millionaires by approving a constitutional amendment allowing progressive income tax rates.
The governor tried it once before, failed miserably and is now content to leave the issues to others.
That’s the difference these days between two Democrats: former Gov. Pat Quinn and current Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Quinn recently held a news conference in which he argued rich folks — earners of $1 million or more a year — need to be relieved of more of their money.
Since Illinois, per state constitutional mandate, has a flat income tax — it’s currently set at 4.95 percent — he wants legislators to propose the amendment and voters to approve it in November 2026.
It’s easy for Quinn to propose, but passing it is another story altogether.
That’s why it was no surprise when Pritzker threw cold water on a plan he actually supports.
“… One of the very first things I did in office was propose and ask the General Assembly to put on the ballot the amendment that would have a graduated tax in this state,” he recently told reporters.
That was then: years one and two of Pritkzer’s first term in 2019-20. Voters emphatically rejected it.
This is now: year three of the governor’s second four-year term and the eve of his run for a third term in 2026. At the same time, he’s in the way early stage of his expected presidential run in 2028.
So how likely is Pritzker — with public appeal in mind — to call for income tax hikes? Not likely.
Indeed, it’s fair to say Illinois’ multibillionaire governor simply can’t afford such a political luxury, preferring instead to adopt an image as a watchdog for taxpayers.
“We clearly want to make sure first that we are looking at finding efficiencies in government. That’s always the very, very first thing,” he said.
Ah, would that it be true.
Government, traditionally, looks for savings when it’s running short on cash to maintain government operations. That’s why Pritzker recently — and publicly — directed department heads to identify potential 4 percent spending cuts.
It’s unclear if cuts will be needed. Just five months into the state’s 2025-26 fiscal year, Pritzker wants to be seen as acting on the safe side.
Quinn, now 76 and in the twilight of his long public life, doesn’t have to be on the safe side of anything. He’s a veteran of multiple runs for office — treasurer, lieutenant governor, attorney general, governor, U.S. Senate — who is free to proselytize about anything he’d like.
So why not advocate taxing the rich,whoever they are. It’s certainly an idea that appeals to the non-rich, whoever they are.
That, in fact, is the problem. Passing a progressive income tax allows the governor and legislators to fiddle endlessly with leveling tax rates at various levels on everyone.
Just look at the tax levels in comparable states like New York and California. They’re all over the place, not just targeted at the “millionaires and billionaires” to whom politicians endlessly refer.
That’s where the trust issue comes in; voters don’t trust politicians to keep their word. So in cases like this, they’ve shown they prefer flat-tax handcuffs to the unbridled freedom of progressive rates.
Pritzker learned that the hard way in 2020, and, at least for the time being, he’s not going to waste time with it when his political future is on the line.
