* It’s a pretty small buy, most likely intended to just generate some interest, but big business groups are now up on Downstate TV with a new ad against the governor’s gross receipts tax.

A 30-second spot, sponsored by the Illinois Coalition for Jobs, Growth and Prosperity, is set to run on stations in Springfield, Champaign, Bloomington and Peoria. In it, three businessmen talk about how the proposed levy would harm their companies and their customers. […]

Greg Baise, president of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Assn., a coalition member, declined to say how much TV time the group has purchased but said it would be “enough to get the attention” of state legislators watching television during their evening hours in Springfield.

Mr. Baise said the spot, or others, eventually will air on cable TV and radio in Chicago. Given the cost, however, the ad is not likely to appear on Chicago broadcast television, where a series of pro-tax ads funded by unions and the Illinois Hospital Assn. have been running.

And here’s the ad. Rate it in comments below…

* Meanwhile, a day after calling the governor “Comrade,” the Belleville News-Democrat publishes an Op-Ed by the headmaster of somthing called Governor French Academy in Belleville that claims Blagojevich is a “French socialist mole.”

You may think that his name is Rod, but the governor’s recent tax hike proposal makes it quite clear that his name is actually “Pierre.”

So how did our great Midwestern prairie state get a Frenchman as its chief executive? The answer is simple — Pierre Blagojevich is a French socialist mole whom the perfidious French government sneaked into the U.S. years ago to change our American free economy into French socialism.

* Democratic Sen. AJ Wilhelmi is not all that excited about the GRT…

The tax could wipe out small business profits, be passed on to consumers, or force some businesses to leave Illinois, Wilhelmi said. He added that he has “grave concerns” because the 1.8 percent gross receipts tax is not transparent. It won’t appear on any receipts and will be built in to the cost of products.

* More budget stuff…

* Jones aims to derail Meeks tax swap plan

* Alternative tax bill looks stalled

* Governor calls business tax increase a moral issue

* Editorial: This just in, God favors higher taxes

* Editorial: Kudos to Flider for opposing Governor’s tax plan

* Chamber opposes Governor’s GRT

*** UPDATE *** Oops. I forgot to post this. From a press release…

Low-income, working families in Illinois are hit harder by the income tax than those in most other states. The income level at which Illinois families must begin paying taxes is among the lowest and worst in the country, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

“Families earning less than the poverty level still must pay income taxes in Illinois, which means they struggle to provide for their children,” said Jerry Stermer, president of Voices for Illinois Children. “Illinois can do better by increasing the state Earned Income Tax Credit so that low-income families can keep more of what they earn and give their children a better future.”

Illinois begins taxing a two parent, two children family of four when they earn just $15,600, nearly 25 percent below the federal poverty level of $20,615. A single-parent, two children family of three is taxed at $13,600, below the poverty level of $16,079, according to the report. Illinois is one of only 15 states that tax three-person families in poverty and one of 19 states that tax four-person families in poverty.

One way to strengthen working families is to increase the Illinois Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Nearly 765,000 low-income, working families benefited from the Illinois EITC last year. But because the Illinois EITC is set at only 5 percent of the federal EITC, the maximum amount a family can receive is about $220, the lowest in the nation.

The study can be found here [pdf file].