Chicago Tribune: Illinois tax increase: Researchers say combine plans by Pat Quinn and Dan Hynes
media mentionBoth proposals are ‘complementary,’ says Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
By Rick Pearson and Monique Garcia
Tribune reporters
October 20, 2009
Gov. Pat Quinn and Comptroller Dan Hynes have fought for weeks over whose income-tax hike proposal is fairer, but a Washington-based research group said Monday the best answer may be to combine the plans of the two rivals in the Feb. 2 Democratic primary for governor.
Quinn’s campaign touted the analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a sister organization of the liberal-leaning Citizens for Tax Justice, for calling the governor’s plan “the most progressive, most economically sound and most timely option available.”
But the governor’s campaign did not note that the institute said Hynes’ plan, in the long run, “would be preferable as it would further enhance tax equity and would put Illinois’ tax system on a more sustainable path.”
In March, Quinn proposed a 50 percent increase in the state’s 3 percent personal flat-rate income tax, coupled with increases in personal exemptions. The institute focused on that plan, though Quinn later dropped the personal-exemption increase and later advocated various tax-hike proposals that failed to win legislative approval.
In announcing his candidacy in August, Hynes proposed a state constitutional amendment that, if placed on the ballot by lawmakers, would ask voters to approve a graduated income-tax rate. Hynes has proposed higher tax rates on incomes of more than $200,000.
Rather than favor one, the institute suggested both plans were “complementary” and that Quinn’s be enacted for the short term until the longer-term Hynes plan could take over.