“I need to pay bills. I’m just terrified, because I don’t know what’s going to happen next. “If my job does start back up, it will be five hours a week and I won’t be able to get unemployment. We need to pay our electric [bill]. We have to pay property taxes, water, Internet, phone...
“Locksmithing tends to be one of those recession-proof businesses. Unfortunately, when others come across financial pain, we do better, but that all changes when all customers are forced to close."
The Federal Reserve announced unprecedented plans to directly purchase up to $500 billion in state and local government bonds. States with poorly managed finances, such as Illinois, stand to benefit most, but long-term threats loom without structural reforms.
“I see a lot of people supporting the bars and restaurants to help keep the small-town businesses alive, and I’m happy for them. But they forget about people like us. I’m not getting promotion from anyone but myself."
By granting broad new taxing authority to Springfield, the progressive income tax amendment makes a retirement income tax much more likely – a fact some supporters have acknowledged publicly.
Creason’s dream was to become a registered nurse. But for her and many like her in Illinois, that dream nearly died.
The severe economic downturn brought on by the coronavirus outbreak and measures taken to contain it could cause state personal income tax revenues to fall by 14.7% to 33.8% this year.
Illinois residents pay more of their income toward state and local taxes than any other state’s residents. A progressive income tax proposal on the ballot in November would raise the state’s total tax burden by $3.7 billion.
“In Illinois, I feel like I’m just swimming upstream constantly. Delaying property tax collections later on would absolutely help, especially because we don’t know where we’re going to be in October."
Pritzker should join other Democratic governors in postponing automatic pay raises, which would free up funds for needy Illinoisans and potentially preserve state worker jobs in the long run.
“Anything you can do to reduce the regulatory and taxation environment in this state would help.
"They need to focus inward as a state and not look for more taxes to solve their apparent spending problem. Balance the budget, reform pensions."