MORE DEBT, MORE BORROWING

Springfield . . . Governor Pat Quinn’s budget plans for the state of Illinois may represent the most inconsiderate and irresponsible budget ever submitted to the General Assembly, according to State Senator Kyle McCarter.

“I am stunned that a Governor would propose such a plan in light of our state’s massive debt and deficit,” said McCarter.  “He is not only continuing the mismanagement of the past seven years, he’s actually making it worse by continuing to spend money we do not have.”

Governor Quinn, in a short 20 minute presentation to the House and Senate, outlined the spending of $32.1 billion in general revenue funds.  His budget details reveal that the anticipated revenues to the state will only be 27.4 billion, nearly $5 billion short of balanced.

“He purposely left a $5 billion projected deficit for the year in hopes that lawmakers would fill it with a tax increase,” said McCarter.  “He did propose a one-point increase in the income tax rate as an education surcharge but that would be a 33 percent increase in the amount of income taxes we will pay as individuals and on most small businesses.  The Governor says that will bring in $3 billion but that does not make up the deficit he’s projecting so the numbers just don’t add up.”

Under the Governor’s plan, nearly one-fifth of General Funds spending doesn’t have a single penny to back it up.

His budget does include continuing the practice of the Blagojevich years by borrowing about $9 billion enabling the state to hobble through the fiscal year, and there is no stated plan on how Illinois will pay back the new borrowing.

“This is simply a failure of leadership,” said McCarter.  “It appears to me to be a strong indication that the Governor does not expect to be here after November to implement this budget.  No one would propose a budget like this if they planned on being around to implement it.”

The 51st District Senator said Republicans acknowledge Illinois’ fiscal crisis but the way to fix it is not with more borrowing or higher taxes as the Governor suggested.

“He talked about families sitting up at night around the kitchen table trying to figure out how to make ends meet yet, according to his own plan, he’s put one more burden on the families of Illinois and that is; how will they be able to pay higher taxes,” said McCarter.  “It is irresponsible to say ‘yes’ to higher taxes when government is not willing to reform the way it operates.”

McCarter said the plan moving forward should be controlling spending, bring costs in line with revenues – something that has been ignored the past seven years – modernize the state’s pension systems, and reform the Medicaid program, the state’s largest annual expenditure, with a managed care system that improves access for those truly needed medical care and cut costs.

“The bottom line is Illinois government has not been living within its means and by the Governor’s own admission today his new budget plan starts out with a $5 billion deficit,” said McCarter.  “What he should have said is that state government will only spend what it expects to receive in revenues.  We also need a greater emphasis on job creation and putting people back to work.  Jobs are the best revenue stream; the most dependable, sustainable and respectful revenue stream we can count on and very little of what we heard today was about jobs.”

McCarter said that although he was stunned to hear the kind of budget as proposed by Governor Quinn he wasn’t surprised.

Last August, after a protracted legislative session, the legislature gave Quinn a budget that was marginally balanced but one that he could manage.  Then, as revenues fell, instead of cutting back on spending, Quinn actually spent more, which only increased state debt by more than $1 billion.

“What the Governor is proposing for Fiscal Year 2011 is not a budget plan; it’s an empty document that offers no real solutions,” said McCarter.  “The Governor offered no details on a potential tax increase, no details on pension reforms, no solutions to the state’s growing Medicaid funding issue and he plan fails to address Fiscal Year 2010 unpaid bills of nearly $6 billion.”

McCarter said taxpayers should pay close attention to what happens in Springfield in the weeks ahead.  Members of Governor Quinn’s own party are in control of the General Assembly.  Will they realize the time for reform and common sense fiscal practices are needed or will they join in the irresponsibility and dig a deep hole, leaving the mess for future generations or dig into taxpayers’ pockets for more?