Fw: The Time to Contact Your Legislators is NOW!

[Guest guest]

Whether you are for or against a tax increase, this is a great time to meet with

your local legislators...bring your loved one and go tell your story...

Ellen

Ellen Garber Bronfeld

egskb@...

The Time to Contact Your Legislators is NOW!

Family Support Network Members!

Our state legislators have gone home, not to return to Springfield until January

4th.

They left Springfield last week with their most important task UNachieved--

figuring out how to fund what is probably the worst state budget nationwide.

Essential services are imploding for our most vulnerable citizens: adults and

children with significant disabilities.

· Whole cost-effective programs with measurable results have been wiped

out with the stroke of a budget pen.

· Almost twenty two thousand people with developmental disabilities

wait on a state vetted list for essential services.

· Adults and children with disabilities are forced to live far from

family and friends, in unnecessarily expensive settings that segregate them from

their communities.

· Rates for remaining services that were abysmal in the 1980’s, have

not even begun to keep up with inflation, and now face a probable 2.5 to 10%

decrease.

· Our providers of service, who often wait months to be paid in the

best of times, are now being told that they will be forced to wait six months

longer. Many will simply be forced out of business.

While our legislators are home, this is a great time to meet with them. If you

can’t manage that, make a phone call. Ask them to remember people with

disabilities while they are considering how they fix this mess. Below are a

couple of interesting articles.

Don’t know who your State Senator and Representative are? Use this link:

http://www.elections.il.gov/DistrictLocator/DistrictOfficialSearchByZip.aspx.

You can click right on their names to get contact information. Amazing.

Call me if you need help. 309-693-8981. I can provide materials and talk you

through a meeting.

If you don’t do anything else, a simple phone call: “Please support a tax

increase. The lives of our most vulnerable citizens depend on you.â€

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Quinn to lawmakers: Time to eat spinach on tax hike

By Yount, Illinois Statehouse News, December 9, 2010

SPRINGFIELD Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is sounding a bit like Popeye as he tries

to flex his muscle and get a vote on his long-sought tax increase.

Quinn on Thursday said lawmakers are going to need to face the realities of the

state, and take quick action on the 33-percent income tax hike he made the

mainstay of his re-election bid. Sometimes politicians of both parties want to

wait til after the election. I’m not one of those. I wanted to do it before

the election. But now it is after the election you gotta eat your spinach. You

gotta eat your spinach to grow-up big and strong.

The governor insists his 1-percent surcharge for education is the cornerstone of

a new budget that will be crafted next spring, though Quinn sounds as if he

expects at least some action during the lame duck session which starts Jan 3.

Its time for the Legislature to come together with me and well pass a plan, I

imagine in early January. That’s when we have to do it, to get our finances on

surer footing, said Quinn.

But even lawmakers from Quinn’s own party aren't sure if the General Assembly

will agree to a tax increase, or will agree to something before the new

Legislature takes over on Jan 12.

State Sen. Toi W. Hutchinson, D-Olympis Fields, said the answer is not just a

tax increase.

Hutchinson said lawmakers are going to have to look at raising taxes, making

cuts, and borrowing. But she fears many lawmakers won’t be willing to make

those hard choices.

We just got through the election, it’s not time to start thinking about the

next one. Its time to act, she said.

Illinois is struggling with a deficit approaching $14 billion, including $5

billion in unpaid bills stretching back to July.

Hutchinson said the need for a real solution may get lost on Quinn’s Popeye

talk.

I’m tired of this tax increase being played for political games. The cost of

doing nothing is going-up each day. And Illinois cannot afford to do nothing.

State Sen. Mike s [5], D-East Moline, said the governor has a point even if

he’s stretching to make it hit home.

I’m not much of a spinach eater myself. But Gov. Quinn’s point is well

taken. [illinois] is going to have to find more money or face collapse.

s has said for months that the people of Illinois are going to have to

decide how much government they are willing to pay for. He said voters appear to

have done that by electing Quinn to a full term.

The governor is right, now it’s time to put-up or shut-up. And eat some

spinach, said s.

But both senators say they want the Illinois House to vote on Quinn income tax

increase first. The Senate passed its own version of a tax hike last year. Many

senators had to then deal with the fall-out from during the election.

There are no plans for a vote in the House any time soon. A spokesman for House

Speaker Mike Madigan said that Quinn has talked about a number of evolving

plans, but has not presented a final product.

Spokesman Steve Brown said Madigan has expressed support to pay Illinois bills

but wants the same commitment from Republican lawmakers.

s said there could be some GOP votes for a tax hike in early January

because out-going lawmakers may be willing to go out on a limb.

We saw civil unions pass in the veto session. Passing a tax hike is not nearly

as tough as passing civil unions, said s.

Lawmakers return to Springfield for a handful of lame duck session days Jan. 3.

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OpEd: Turns out Quinn does have tax-hike support; now what?

By: Ralph Martire, November 29, 2010

To the great relief of most, one of the tightest, most negative gubernatorial

campaigns Illinois has ever seen, which is saying something, is behind us.

Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn ultimately won, without even receiving a majority

of the votes cast, garnering just 47% of the popular vote. Given that, many

observers were surprised when Mr. Quinn announced the election gave him a

mandate to increase the state's income tax.

The bigger surprise, however, isn't his claim of a mandate, but rather that he

may be right. Here's why: Consider the governor's race itself. Mr. Quinn ran

unabashedly in support of a tax increase. His main opponent, Republican state

Sen. Bill Brady, ran just as unabashedly against increasing taxes, promising

instead to cut them. Contrary to conventional political wisdom that running as a

pro-tax candidate is fatal, voters nonetheless chose Mr. Quinn.

On closer inspection, Illinois voters choosing the pro-tax candidate is not

quite as remarkable as it sounds. For instance, only two of the 48 legislative

incumbents in Illinois who voted for tax increases last year lost their races.

Meanwhile, five of the 71 incumbents running for re-election who voted against

tax increases lost. Sure, the sample size is small, but it's still telling:

While only 4% of pro-tax incumbents lost their seats, 7% of anti-tax incumbents

lost.

What is remarkable about the Illinois election is that it ran counter to the

national landslide in favor of anti-tax Republicans. Republicans took control of

the governor's office in seven states formerly held by Democrats and replaced

more than 650 Democratic legislators in state general assemblies nationwide.

Given this context, there's a real basis for Mr. Quinn to claim the support he

needs to raise taxes.

Of course, the bigger question is what will he do with it? For while Mr. Quinn

should be applauded for having the strength of character to tell voters what

they need to hear that Illinois must raise taxes he has yet to propose the

comprehensive reform needed to fix the state's flawed tax policy, which

generates huge, structural deficits over time while imposing the tax burden

unfairly.

Fixing that will require, at a minimum, increasing the personal income tax rate

to 5% from 3%; expanding the sales tax base to include consumer services, and

targeting significant tax relief to low- and middle-income folks.

Disdaining that comprehensive approach, the governor is currently stuck on his

1% income tax surcharge for education. Sure, that would plug some of the hole,

but it also would leave next year's deficit north of $12 billion.

The good news is that Mr. Quinn is right about having the support needed to

solve the state's fiscal problems responsibly. Here's hoping he does it.

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