Republicans claim fake transparency in early budget, demand better

By Sean Reed | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – At the height of state budget negotiations, Republican lawmakers have said Democrat leaders have again pulled their seat from the table.

Meanwhile, progressive lawmakers have continued a push for more new taxes on specific sectors of the state’s economy, which they said will give them the ability to fund programs Illinoisans rely on that face federal funding cuts.

The four state Senate Republican budgeters, including Sen. Donald DeWitte, R-West Dundee, warned that a 3,178 page version of the budget previously introduced isn’t close to resembling what is likely to be the final product.

“I would have to describe this year’s conversations as amicable and courteous,” DeWitte said “While this session has been interesting and different in many ways, I would say the budget process is rolling out similarly to previous years.”

Also among the budgeteers was Sen. Seth Lewis, R-Carol Stream, who was critical of the Democrat’s introduced version of the budget – which is a collection of all state agency budget requests compiled together into a single bill.

Lewis described the move to introduce a preliminary version of the state budget as not truly transparent, despite Democrats claiming it was.

“Between now and the overnight hours of May 31, we’ll see an amended budget that has hundreds of additional pages that details where that $2 billion in spending and tax and fee increases are going to go,” Lewis said.

Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Champaign, further discussed the group’s issue with proposed state spending plans, which he said would require the state to significantly increase revenue to address a major gap between the governor’s budget plan and forecasted state revenue for the coming year.

Early this week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker suggested a delay in the motor fuel tax increase set to take effect in July could be included as part of the final budget.

“We in the state can look at what I already did a few years ago, which is to suspend the automatic increase in the gas tax, the automatic increase, and look at other ways to lower gas costs,” Pritzker said.

If the fuel tax increase is delayed, it would be a partial victory for Republicans, who have been calling on the governor to temporarily suspend the tax completely and eliminate the increase since prices began to rise in late February.

Sen. Sally Turner, R-Lincoln, criticized an initiative to impose a digital advertising tax, which is likely to be included in the budget.

“That cost is not going to stay just with large tech companies, it’s going to get passed down to small businesses that rely on affordable online advertising to reach customers to grow their business base,” Turner said.

Rep. Norma Hernandez, D-Melrose Park, defended her legislation to impose a tax on digital ads earlier in the day.

“This is not a tax on small businesses. This is not a tax on working people. This is a proposal focused on the largest tech corporations, corporations making enormous profits off our personal data, our online activity and targeted advertising,” Hernandez said. “These billionaire companies have built massive industries off of our communities while contributing very little back into public systems.”