When out campaigning, Governor Bruce Rauner has been making big claims about lowering taxes. But there was little follow-through in Wednesday's budget proposal.
Just last week, Rauner told Sangamon County Republicans not only would he work to block a progressive income tax, but he’d try to get taxes “down lower from where they are today, and bring them back down to 3 percent over the next two years."
The budget proposal made no mention of 3 percent and no mention of two years.
Instead, he talked about lowering taxes to 4.7 percent — a 0.25 percentage point drop from the current rate — and with no deadline.
The reduction would come only after Illinois makes cuts in pension benefits for teachers and state workers — something court challenges would likely delay for years.
(Audio of Rauner at the Sangamon County Lincoln Day Dinner posted by The State Journal-Register's "Under the Dome" podcast.)
