Reps. Keicher and Davidsmeyer Recap the Week and Latest State Tax Report

Hi everybody, State Representative Jeff Kiker with you once again to give a little bit more information about what you should know about your state government. So today we want to spend some time talking about the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability and I brought with me today my peer C.D. Davids-Meyer who sits as one of the co-chairs of CODFA. C.D. one of the other things that was in this month's report dealt with net income tax as a percentage of general funds and and what one of the reports cited was back in 2004 folks only 30 percent of the budget that is passed here in the General Assembly each year came from income tax. C.D. this year it's shaping up to be 60 percent. What do we say? Like you know when you see an increase in your budget over the past six years from about 40 billion dollars to over 56 billion that means the people of the state of Illinois are are paying more and the reality in our state budget and our revenue is that the majority of that comes from individual income taxes not corporate income taxes but individual income tax. And I know one of the biggest frustrations you and I both share is that folks every year despite this additional revenue that we've frequently seen come in our peers on the other side of the aisle continue to pass additional taxes and fees in each and every budget year that I can recall that I've been here. Yeah and and the reality is they say well we're not we may not be adding it to the income tax but the reality is we know as consumers that when they pass these off on businesses or people that they claim are not individuals paying these taxes we all pay those fees. Individuals everyone out there in the economy is paying these fees so when it's a you know a tax on individuals we pay it when it's a tax on on businesses we also pay that because they're not just going to absorb it. And this is where so often we talk about affordability just seems to be a buzzword for them right now they really aren't paying attention to it because they continue to pass what they want to spend on to the people of the state of Illinois so that they can spend your money the way they choose. C.D. any closing comments? No I appreciate the opportunity to serve on as a co-chair of CONFA. It really does work together in a bipartisan fashion. It's one of those steps away from the House floor and the Senate floor where we can actually talk about facts and numbers and really get into it. Folks thank you for joining us today we'll share the website for CONFA down below and please go visit it and pour through the reports that they put out on a monthly basis in addition to the others. Thanks for joining us.