Ignoring the need for fundamental spending reform as now being demonstrated in neighboring states such as Indiana and Minnesota, last night, under cover of darkness and during a lame-duck session of the state legislature, Illinois Democrats rammed through a 66 percent income tax increase. This means that if you are fortunate enough to make $100,000 (and I’m not), you will be paying $2,000 extra annually, or $167 more every month.
And what do you get for all this largesse? Simply the knowledge that the pro-Democrat unions will continue receiving their fat, unaffordable pensions for years to come.
Taxpayers who have already made cuts to their personal budgets during this recession are taking it on the chin once again, through no fault of their own. Defenders of the “need” for a tax hike asked me what cuts I would make to balance the state budget. That question is now moot, replaced with this one: What further cuts will I make to balance my own?
About Stan Guthrie
Stan Guthrie is an editor at large for Christianity Today magazine and for the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. His latest book is God's Story in 66 Verses. He also is author of All that Jesus Asks: How His Questions Can Teach and Transform Us, Missions in the Third Millennium: 21 Key Trends for the 21st Century, and A Concise Guide to Bible Prophecy. He is co-author of The Sacrament of Evangelism. Besides authoring, writing, and editing books, Stan is a literary agent, bringing together good authors, good books, and good publishers.
Stan writes the monthly Priorities colum for BreakPoint.org. He has appeared on National Public Radio's Tell Me More, WGN's Milt Rosenberg program, and many Christian shows, including The Eric Metaxas Show and Moody Radio's New Day Florida. A licensed minister and an inspirational speaker, he served as moderator for the Christian Book Expo panel discussion, Does the God of Christianity Exist, and What Difference Does It Make?