Take Action: Critical Funding Shortfall in Illinois
10/09/25
During the month of October, the Illinois General Assembly will meet to discuss options for keeping Illinois’ budget balanced while providing essential services to its residents.
This year, due to the federal government’s passage of HR1 (aka: The One Big Beautiful Bill), the state will experience unprecedented shortfalls in funding for essential services that residents depend on. Additional proposed cuts in the federal budget could compound the impact on Illinois’ budget—resulting in a loss topping $1.2 billion per year.
Contact your state representative and state senator today.
Let your lawmakers know:
The state should avoid cutting vital services.
Generating state revenue to cover the shortfall can be done in several ways, including:
Decouple the state’s income tax provisions from the new federal tax changes. This will avoid an automatic Illinois revenue reduction via the OBBB.
Implement non-regressive taxes (sales tax on luxury and high-end services like pool cleaning, for example).
Offset the impact on struggling families with broader refundable child tax credits.
Close corporate tax loopholes like the carried interest deduction.
Solve for the problem long term by amending the state constitution to allow for a graduated tax structure.
Here’s what’s at stake:
Funding for public education – Illinois could stand to lose over $313 million annually for its 1.85 million students.
Hunger – With new restrictions, 450,000 Illinoisans may lose SNAP food assistance benefits, and the 1.9 million residents who currently use SNAP could see reductions. The state will be required to bear another $80 million in administrative costs each year and pay a share of the cost of SNAP benefits for the first time, at an estimated cost of roughly $700 million, or risk losing access to the program altogether.
Access to healthcare
330,000 people are estimated to lose Medicaid coverage over the next 10 years.
Federal funding for school-based nurses and therapists will shrink.
Rural hospitals, community-based health centers and providers reliant on Medicaid will face financial strain, and for some, closures. Additional funds for rural health centers will not cover the losses and will not help city hospitals with high Medicaid populations.
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