It’s said that misery loves company. If that’s true, Illinois has plenty of both.

The misery stems from money and programs that lawmakers and Gov. Pat Quinn have extracted from the state budget to try to fight the decay in state revenues caused by the economic recession. The company comes from other states that face the same massive financial problems.

During budget negotiations this year, Illinois legislators and the governor attempted to close a deficit estimated at $11.6 billion. But that was only a fraction of the estimated $215 billion in deficits that states nationwide wrestled with for their 2009 and 2010 budget years, according to Stateline.org, an online publication that follows state government issues.

So far, Illinois has not enacted any general tax increases, other than imposing full sales taxes on several products where sales taxes previously were reduced, such as candy, shampoo and soft drinks. Instead, lawmakers and the governor tried to balance the budget through cuts, fee hikes, $3.4 billion in borrowing to fund employee pensions and about $2.7 billion in one-time federal stimulus funds. But even after funding was slashed for social services, payroll and many state programs that until now had been seen as essential, the budget finally enacted mid-July still carries an estimated deficit of $1.4 billion.

Other states have taken various routes to try to fill their own budget gaps. Unless otherwise noted, the information on them below comes from Stateline.org.

• Arizona, for instance, hopes to raise $350 million to $700 million by selling as many as 32 state properties — perhaps even its Capitol building — and leasing them back, according to the Christian Science Monitor. The $60 million to $70 million in lease payments would cost that state’s taxpayers in the long run, but the sales would infuse immediate revenues into the budget. California — which faced a $26 billion shortfall — Pennsylvania and Connecticut also are auctioning off state properties, the Monitor says. In Illinois, both the House and Senate approved separate bills to lease the state Lottery last year but couldn’t agree on combined legislation. Proposals to privatize the lottery didn’t gain traction during this year’s spring legislative session.

• At least 18 states increased personal income or sales taxes. Several of those were temporary: California and Nevada hiked sales taxes; and Hawaii, New York and New Jersey increased income taxes. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn proposed increasing this state’s personal income tax rate from 3 percent to 4.5 percent and raising the corporate rate from 4.8 percent to 7.2 percent, but it didn’t fly with the legislature during its spring session. Quinn says he may try for an income tax increase again next year.

• Taxes on cigarettes and/or alcoholic beverages went up in at least 18 states, with New Jersey, New York and North Carolina increasing taxes on both tobacco and alcohol. In Illinois, taxes increased on beer, wine and spirits to help pay for a $31 billion capital construction program. The hikes were levied on distributors, although some or all of the amounts likely will be passed on to consumers. Lawmakers and Quinn are still tossing around various proposed incarnations of a tobacco tax and may deal with that issue this month during the legislature’s veto session.

• At least 17 states are forcing state employees to take furlough days. California has ordered its 210,000 workers to take three days off each month until next June. Quinn has ordered Illinois government employees to take 12 unpaid days off during the coming year, although unions are fighting that. He also has threatened to lay off 2,600 workers, and the state’s largest employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, has sued to try to block those layoffs. Six states — but not Illinois — offered employee buyouts.

• Illinois was among seven states that expanded gambling, with the Land of Lincoln permitting video poker in taverns. Delaware became the second state, along with Nevada, to allow sports betting.

• At least 26 states cut funding for prisons, and seven states — Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Washington — closed some prisons entirely. Quinn has announced his intention to lay off 1,000 corrections workers and perhaps release some nonviolent inmates early in an effort to save $125 million.

• Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont increased taxes on gasoline. Illinois didn’t but joined more than a dozen other states in hiking vehicle registration fees.

• At least seven states cut education funds. Illinois was among them, chopping money for early childhood education. The advocacy group Voices for Illinois Children estimated that as many as 30,000 children, mostly from low-income families, would be prevented from attending preschool.

• According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, pension and retirement benefits for new state employees were reduced in Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Texas. Quinn and lawmakers have discussed similar moves in Illinois but so far have not enacted them.

Various other states also increased taxes on software and digital phone ring tones, hotel rooms, court and hospital fees, and hunting and fishing licenses. More detailed information on other states’ attempts to balance their budgets can be found at www.stateline.org and www.ncsl.org.

Kudos

Illinois Issues won two national journalism awards in the annual Best of Statehouse Reporting contest sponsored by Capitolbeat, an organization for Statehouse reporters and editors. 

Charles N. Wheeler III won first place in the Columns/Commentary/ News Analysis category for magazines for his columns that appeared throughout the year. 

Dave McKinney won third place in the same category for his analysis, "The two faces of Illinois politics." His article appeared in the January 2009 edition of Illinois Issues and compared the reputations of newly elected President Barack Obama and then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was impeached and removed from office later that month.

Wheeler is director of the Public Affairs Reporting program at the University of Illinois Springfield and a former longtime Statehouse reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. McKinney is the Sun-Times’ current full-time reporter at the Illinois Capitol.

Congratulations to both of them.

New name

Careful readers might note that throughout the magazine this month, we refer to “the University of Illinois Springfield” instead of “the University of Illinois at Springfield.” The university changed its name for marketing purposes, and we are happy to use the shorter version.

Dana Heupel can be reached at heupel.dana@uis.edu.

Illinois Issues, October 2009