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Illinois House speaker pushing for new millionaire tax with looming $2.2B budget deficit

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Illinois House speaker pushing for new millionaire tax with looming .2B budget deficit


SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WLS) — Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch is pushing for a new tax on millionaires as the General Assembly gets ready to return to work in Springfield next week.

It comes as lawmakers face a $2.2 billion budget deficit.

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This is an election year budget: So, if Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was hoping for state approval for some progressive tax ideas he’s floated, he might have to wait another year.

But state lawmakers appear ready to ask the wealthy to pay more.

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“Nothing new, we’ve done it before,” the Democratic speaker said.

Welch, in a recent interview, was seemingly unfazed by the $2 billion deficit.

“Tomorrow is my five-year anniversary as speaker of the House. And I think every year, in January, going into the start of session, we’ve been faced with a deficit,” Welch said.

This session, the focus will be on affordability. It’s something that Democrats and Republicans define differently.

“In the veto session, passing that transit reform bill was historic. If that’s not an affordability bill, I don’t know what is,” Welch said.

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“Under him, over the last five years, our budget, it’s gone from $40 billion to $55 billion. So, I don’t really know what affordability means to me. One thing that it cannot mean, and I don’t think it will mean in a campaign year, is increase in taxes,” House Republican Leader state Rep. Tony McCombie said.

Speaker Welch suggested Mayor Johnson’s hopes for state approval for progressive taxes, such as one on professional services, may go nowhere.

“We’re going to put those things through the hopper like we would any other idea. I don’t know if there’s an appetite for anything right now,” Welch said.

A tax surcharge on incomes over a million dollars, modeled after Massachusetts, which Forbes reports saw a windfall of $5.7 billion during the first two years, is possible, he said.

“I have been a very big believer that the wealthy should pay more, that they should pay their fair share, and I think a surcharge tax on millionaires is an easy way to do it,” Welch said.

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“You know, I think it’d just be another thing to make us unfriendly to folks that have assets and resources to come here and want to build and grow their businesses,” McCombie said.

As for the Bears, Welch said he’d be open to state infrastructure help at the Arlington Heights property, but that’s about it.

“When it comes to the Bears. I don’t know if folks want us to make that a top priority,” Welch said.

Welch said some of the focus this session will be to address rising home insurance rates and property taxes.

And while he says Mayor Johnson and his team have gotten better at communicating with legislative leaders, he said they should not wait until April or May to make their requests.

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Illinois

Produce Recall Issued In Parasite Outbreak Hitting IL

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Produce Recall Issued In Parasite Outbreak Hitting IL


A number of Taco Bell locations have posted signs announcing they are “currently unable to sell Lettuce, Cilantro Onion, Pico de Gallo, and Guacamole due to a nationwide recall,” according to Detroit-area news radio outlet WWJ.

Taco Bell told the Post it would keep monitoring the situation and follow authorities’ guidance.

Taco Bell Lettuce Linked To Growing MI Parasite Outbreak: FDA

“Public health officials have not confirmed a link to Taco Bell or any specific ingredient, supplier, restaurant or retailer,” the company told the Post. “While authorities continue their broader review, Taco Bell has voluntarily and temporarily removed limited ingredients at select restaurants as a precautionary measure.”

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In Michigan, where cases have been concentrated, media reports said notices were posted at some Detroit-area Taco Bell restaurants last week telling customers the chain was “currently unable to sell Lettuce, Cilantro-Onion, Pico de Gallo, and Guacamole due to a nationwide recall.”





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Illinois GOP trails badly in midterm cash

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Illinois GOP trails badly in midterm cash


The Illinois Republican Party filed its quarterly campaign finance report on the July 15 deadline. The party reported having just $223K in the bank. The next day, the party sent a letter to the Illinois State Board of Elections saying they were “reconciling” their records after a leadership change, and then noted that their actual end balance was $101K higher than it had reported the day before.

But that bit of found money was basically the end of the “good news” for the GOP last week.

Republicans no longer have a pet billionaire. Bruce Rauner and Ken Griffin have fled the state. The legions of wealthy business titans who once contributed and raised money have either retired to sunnier climes or passed away. Several prominent party members have publicly shunned labor unions and their hefty political war chests, although the state GOP legislative leaders have at least tried to rebuild ties to trade unions and even the Illinois Education Association. But the heavily gerrymandered legislative map combined with the current political climate means they’ll mostly receive scraps.

And, yes, the House Democrats are struggling this month with scandals, including a state representative who resigned under pressure and another who was indicted. I’m not trying to downplay that at all. But Democrats have the national political environment, the local infrastructure and tons of cash behind them. The Republicans have little to none of that.

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The GOP’s gubernatorial candidate, Darren Bailey, raised $1.3 million in the second quarter, which ended June 30. That sounds like a lot, but he spent almost all of that on direct mail fundraising costs. The huge expenditures do give him a prospect list for future fundraising, but he ended the quarter with a mere $128K in the bank. That was still a whole lot more than the rest of the statewide ticket.

Attorney General nominee Bob Fioretti, a perennial candidate, raised $31K, spent $39K and had $28K on hand at the end of the quarter along with almost $15K in recent debt. Secretary of State candidate Diane Harris raised $6K, spent a bit over $4K and had a paltry $1,816.42 in the bank. Treasurer candidate Max Solomon, who ran as a write-in during the primary because the party failed to recruit anyone, raised less than $3K, reported no spending and ended the quarter with less than $8K. Comptroller candidate Bryan Drew raised $30K and received $47K in in-kind contributions from a company owned, ironically, by independent gubernatorial candidate Collin Corbett, spent less than $3K, ended with $54K and had $25K in debt from earlier this year.

Man, that’s just downright pathetic.

But I suppose it doesn’t really matter anyway unless we see a massive sea-change in national opinion in the coming months or the federal government finds a way to not certify certain election results. Regardless of where individual candidates are at this moment, they’ll have the money to compete. Unlike the Republicans, the Dems do have a pet billionaire (JB Pritzker) and, I assume eventually for most of them, organized labor.

The Republican legislative leaders have tried to scrape and claw as much as they can, but they’re vastly outgunned. Senate Republican Leader John Curran raised just $75K in the second quarter. He spent $71K and reported having a bit more than $3 million in the bank. His caucus committee reported having $160K in the bank.

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Leader Curran has three Republican-held districts to defend in the Chicago media market that have all trended Democratic in the last three cycles. Depending how bad things get, he could be defending a couple, two or three more.

The Senate Democrats have a ton of money to do whatever they want. Senate President Don Harmon has about $20 million in his personal campaign account and $1.7 million in his caucus account.

Over in the House, Republican Leader Tony McCombie has at least four Democratic-trending or swingy districts to defend and just $1.3 million in her personal campaign account and another $363K in her caucus account so far.

In contrast, House Speaker Chris Welch had $11.4 million in his personal account and $1.2 million in his caucus account. Like Senate President Harmon, he has more than enough money already, but more is never enough when there’s so much out there, so those numbers will likely rise by November.

Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com.

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Hillsboro grad, Springfield golfer Alex Eickhoff 2nd at state amateur

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Hillsboro grad, Springfield golfer Alex Eickhoff 2nd at state amateur


BLOOMINGTON — Springfield’s Alex Eickhoff nearly had a magical Thursday as he tied for second place in the 95th annual Illinois State Amateur Championship at Crestwicke Country Club.  

Eickhoff, a 2020 Hillsboro High School graduate and former standout on the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s men’s golf team, shot a 4-under-par 68 in Thursday’s third round and followed that with an even-par 71 to finish the three-day, four-round event 1-over 285. He tied for second with Bloomington’s Logan Stauffer.  

Eickhoff briefly took the lead through nine holes of his fourth round when he sat at 1-under par. Chicago’s Charlie Kulwin finished both of Thursday’s rounds under par and finished 2-under 282. He was the lone golfer to finish under par for the tournament.

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Eickhoff was The State Journal-Register’s Small School Boys Golfer of the year twice in his high school career: once as a freshman in 2016-17 and again as a senior in 2019-20. After high school, he golfed for the University of Minnesota for two years before transferring to SIUE.  

He began the tournament with a 3-over 74 on Tuesday and shaved off a stroke Wednesday with a 2-over 73. He closed out the event with an even-par 71 in Thursday’s final round.

Other area golfers who made the cut were Springfield’s Charles Hoogland (7-over 291, tied for 20th) and Jacksonville’s Brady Kaufmann (8-over 292, 25th). 

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The last golfer from The State Journal-Register’s coverage area to win the Illinois State Amateur was Jay Davis. Davis, a Jacksonville Routt graduate, won the 1991 and ‘92 tournaments. 

Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.





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