SE Illinois News

Republican state House candidate Paul Jacobs can’t get past the irony he senses in the name Gov. J.B. Pritzker has branded the latest tax plan he and Illinois Democrats are pushing.

“We are talking about the progressive tax, which is sometimes called the fair tax, but unfortunately it isn’t very much of a fair tax when you consider it is strictly a constitutional amendment to allow the state legislature and the governor to raise taxes willy-nilly,” Jacobs told the SE Illinois News. “We already realize that the state of Illinois is one of the highest taxed states in every tax category. We are presently driving so many different groups of people out of the state, so many different businesses out of the state, if we continue to tax more we will therefore raise the prospect of more moving.”

Jacobs, a Carbondale resident who is now running in the 115th District, finds Pritzker to be one of the biggest culprits of all.

Several media outlets have reported the governor recently contributed $51.5 million to a ballot initiative committee launched to sell the progressive tax proposal he’s been pushing since his days as a candidate. Vote Yes to Fairness, a committee headed by the governor’s former deputy campaign manager, recently received the funds and is already at work promoting a ballot measure that would convert the current flat tax to a progressive tax system.

On top of being the only individual to contribute more than $250 to the cause, Pritzker’s latest gift comes after an earlier donation of at least $5 million. Jacobs sees Pritzker as one of the biggest culprits of all in the Democrats' drive to tax and spend.

“At this point, the people who still stay in the state are 65 and older because they are protected from taxes on their pensions,” he said. “We already have heard from the state leaders that this constitutional amendment will then allow them to tax everybody including retirees. When we begin to tax the pensions, we will then have many more people leaving that are 65 and older.”

Before long, Jacobs said there probably won’t be many people left for Democrat lawmakers to slap with their out-of-control taxes.

“I believe that we are on a vicious cycle, starting with the state legislators who insist on trying to appease every voter or constituent in their districts,” he said. “We all must realize everybody is in this together, we all must realize though, if you don’t have the money, you don’t have the money.”

In some ways, Jacobs said the state has become its own worst enemy.

“All of these problems stem directly to taxation and a very poor business atmosphere to start new businesses,” he said. “With an economy that was robust not very many years ago turning rather non-robust at this point and with the COVID pandemic, the State of Illinois has some really hard decisions to make. These decisions will have to include cuts to the budgets that the Democrats have seemed to just ignore and continue to tax the people of the state of Illinois.”