Senator DeWitte Warns of Tax Hikes and Budget Sweeps
As Reprinted from Legislative News from Senator Don DeWitte Newsletter
November 26, 2024
Veto session concluded on November 21, and as we prepare for the 2025 legislative session, I fear Illinoisans may be in for new tax hikes and budget sweeps as majority party Democrats try to plug a $3.2 billion budget deficit projected for the next fiscal year.
State spending has grown by more than 30% under Governor Pritzker, leading to the approval of a record-high $53 billion budget for the current fiscal year. The budget includes $1 billion in tax hikes and over $1 billion in spending for healthcare and other services and programs for noncitizens.
There were zero discussions during veto session about how state government will rein in spending and act responsibly in 2025-2026. I believe the Governor and his allies in the General Assembly are once again going to impose add new taxes and sweep more revenue away from current budget areas like the motor fuel fund and the Local Government Distributive Fund (LGDF).
The Governor has routinely swept funds away from LGDF, and these are funds our local governments use to balance their budgets and pay for critical services like police and fire protection. I believe his repeal of the grocery tax earlier this year was a shot across the bow at local government. I fear he is going to go after them again in 2025-2026 with additional budget sweeps of funds that rightly belong to local units of government. I will stand up for municipalities and oppose any attempt to further weaken their financial positions.
As you may recall, in 2024 I sponsored legislation that would eliminate the grocery tax and backfill lost revenue by returning funds regularly swept from LGDF back into that fund for use by municipalities. My bill was blocked, and the Pritzker administration instead eliminated the tax and put in place an ability for local units of government to raise taxes on their own to cover the shortfall.
Unfortunately, we are now learning that the ‘process’ the Governor put in place will not work for many non-home rule municipalities, Whether it was bad faith negotiations or a mere refusal to examine or understand the consequences of his actions, Governor Pritzker’s repeal of the grocery tax has handcuffed nearly 200 non-home rule municipalities from being able to recover the lost funds that resulted from Pritzker budget gimmicks this year.
I hear almost daily from constituents who are barely making ends meet and cannot afford any more taxes. I, along with all of my colleagues in the Senate Republican Caucus, are urging the creation of a balanced 2025-2026 budget that does not include any new taxes.
