Pat Quinn explains his support for a millionaire income tax surcharge

There's an advisory referendum on today's ballot asking Cook County voters if Illinois should adopt an income tax increase for millionaires. Former Governor Pat Quinn believes this amendment would provide relief. To Illinois homeowners and he joins us now to discuss this proposal. Governor Quinn, thank you for being here. You were instrumental in getting this question on the ballot. Talk about your main motivation. Well, it gives the people a chance to talk. The voters, the taxpayers who are sick and tired of an unfair property tax system. The referendum is called the Millionaire Amendment for Property Tax Relief and Education. The key is it's only a tax on millionaires and the money that would be derived, the three The 3% surcharge would Would be used for property tax relief and helping schools, and this is a way for the people to talk. For too long, you know, politicians talk at us. It's important for the people to say we need long overdue property tax relief in Illinois. We have the highest property taxes in the country, and there's all kinds of tax breaks for millionaires and higher property tax bills for everyday people, and that's not fair. Okay, so I have a two-part question for you. The first is, who would get property tax relief? Are we talking about all homeowners and maybe even corporate businesses as well getting property tax relief? And the second part is... How can we trust that Illinois politicians will spend this additional money where they say it's gonna be spent? Well, the millionaire amendment is a constitutional amendment. It's on the ballot. It has to be approved by the voters. Once it's in the Constitution, it can't be changed by mere statute. And that's the key for getting long overdue property tax relief. The legislature passed a law not that long ago providing annual property tax relief to anyone who has the homestead exemption in Illinois. That's about 3 million households. People who own homes or small apartments would get direct property tax relief from the millionaire amendment for property tax relief. So this is really a key way. It's one of the best ways to get relief permanently through the Constitution where the people vote for it and make it happen. Okay. In terms of the... binding aspect of this. Let's say that in Cook County, the overwhelming majority of people who responded, I say, yeah, go ahead. What happens then? Well, Cook County is bigger than 28 states. It's the biggest county, obviously, in Illinois. It's the best way to talk to the legislature. We've got to get this on the ballot at the next election where the people vote in a binding referendum for real property tax relief and making sure we help schools. We don't want the schools to be keeping increasing property taxes. This amendment gives them them the way to go without raising property taxes and Families and businesses. So this is really a tax relief measure that the people want to pass in Illinois and get the legislature behind it. Now you say the people want to pass it. I would argue maybe that's not the case. We know Governor Pritzker spent millions of his own dollars trying to get the graduated income tax to pass. People didn't want it. And one of the main reasons was once we change the flat tax that we have here here in the state of Illinois, which is 4.95%. Everybody pays the same income. tax rate, then it could go, it could start to impact additional groups. So maybe it's millionaires at first, and then it drops down to people making 500 grand, you know, $500,000 a year, and then $100,000 a year. So do you understand the concern of people that once you change the flat tax, then everybody ultimately could be involved here and could get taxed? This is a lot different than 2020. Basically, it's a constitutional amendment that only raises Thanks for having me. Put in the Constitution as a millionaire amendment. They didn't do that five, six years ago. They didn't earmark the money for property tax relief and for schools. And it was confusing. This is very straightforward. If millionaires pay a 3% surcharge on their income, they're the ones who are getting all these tax breaks now. But doesn't it open the door, though, for in the future saying, people that make over $500,000, I mean, once you crack the door open, couldn't it just become Pandora's box? Well, only if the voters vote for them. For that, you know, the bottom line is the voters have to approve any constitutional amendment in the millionaire amendment has been passed in places like Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Maine, state of Washington, all over the country. This is happening. We have many, many people who are really getting hard hit, clobbered by unfair property taxes in our state. It's the worst in the country. We got to do something. We just can't wring our hands and say, you know, we can't do anything. You have to listen to what the voters say in a referendum, and I think that's the voice of the people. And that will be on the ballot if you're in Cook County today, so be prepared for that question. We're out of time, Governor Quinn, but thank you for running us through that. Okay, go Bears. We can all agree on that. We can all agree on that. Thank you so much.