ACTION NEEDED: Contact your State
Representative and Senator in their home legislative offices
prior to April 29, 2008, when the Illinois Legislature reconvenes.
Ask them to pass a resolution which will put the question
of whether Illinois should amend its Constitution to allow
an income tax with a graduated rate schedule on the ballot
at the November 4, 2008 election.
BACKGROUND: The League of Women Voters has
a position in support of a progressive income tax with a graduated
rate schedule. This cannot be done without amending the Illinois
Constitution.
In the 1990's LWVIL chaired a statewide coalition of organizations called Progress Illinois which was
formed to spearhead a campaign to place a constitutional amendment for a graduated income tax on the
November 1994 ballot. LWVIL and local Leagues mounted an extensive public education and lobbying campaign
to generate support for a graduated income tax amendment. The General Assembly did not call the amendment
for a vote.
This year there are several proposals to amend the constitution
to allow a graduated income tax. The question must be read
in full on three different days in each house and pass both
houses by a three-fifths vote by May 4, 2008, in order to
be placed on the ballot on November 4, 2008.
SJRCA 0092, Senate Amendment No. 2, would remove the provision that the income tax be at a flat rate.
This would result in the Illinois Constitution having language that would allow either a flat rate or a
graduated rate. This language would be similar to the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
HJRCA 0042 would tax incomes under $250,000 at 3% and incomes over $250,000 at 6%. This resolution
contains very specific language that does not belong in a constitution, but the proposal does serve as an
example of a graduated income tax.
There are other proposals calling for a graduated income
tax, but none of them have made it out of committee. The question
will be the subject of negotiations and debate during the
next week. Your legislators need to hear from you that the
income tax needs to be made more progressive and that you
support putting the question on the November 4, 2008, ballot.
To find your representative's name and contact information
visit, www.ilga.gov.
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