* This is probably something that the Democrats neglected to properly consider when they raised taxes…

Annually, the increase will equate to whole paychecks they’ll be handing over to the state.

Two percent of one’s income is, indeed, about equal to a week’s wages. Gov. Pat Quinn and the Democrats better worry that nobody else picks up on this theme. It could be extremely powerful. And quite dangerous. Nevermind that the total state income tax burden prior to this was only about one and a half weeks’ worth of wages. This new one week of pay taken away and given to the brain trust running our ever-so-competent government is something that people can very easily understand.

* But in the meantime, we’ll just have to endure false propaganda like this from the Heartland Institute…

Land of Lincoln? Land of Larceny. […]

The legislation does include a spending “cap,” but it allows spending to grow 18 percent from fiscal 2011 levels over the next four years – and they’ll likely ignore the cap, just as they’ve ignored the state’s balanced budget requirement and a 1995 law requiring proper funding of pensions.

The reason spending appears to be growing from this fiscal year is because we currently can’t pay our bills.

* And the Tribune recklessly printed this Cal Thomas screed, which starts with Illinois as an example and then goes national…

Suppose there was a groundswell of taxpayers who announced they will no longer pay for government and, in fact, will start reducing payments to government if politicians won’t significantly cut spending? That would get their attention.

There aren’t enough prisons to house thousands, perhaps millions, of taxpayers who cry “enough” and demand that Washington live within its means. It’s time to starve the beast. If Dracula doesn’t get blood, he dies. If Washington can’t suck more money out of us and must stop borrowing, it will be forced to cut back, like so many Americans have done in this recession.

So much for toning down the rhetoric.

* Northwest Herald executive editor Chris Krug listed those who voted for Pat Quinn, including…

Idiots, buffoons and the terminally stupid.

Sheesh.

* But James Warren includes a wake-up call for the warring Midwestern states over Illinois’ new tax hike…

But a cautionary note came from [Rich Neimand, a Washington media and political strategist]: Economic health involves more than competitive tax rates and cheap land; it involves thinking far beyond Racine, Prairie du Chien, Carbondale and Elgin.

“Both governors should note that the weather is a lot sunnier in Mexico, the local officials infinitely more generous, the environmental regulations more lax and the gang violence probably no worse than Chicago or Milwaukee,” Mr. Neimand said.

So ridicule Illinoisans picnicking in the Dells, Badgers. But realize that it’s folks around the world who are really eating your lunch, Mr. Walker, and ours.

True dat.

* And Doug Finke dumps cold water over the complainers’ heads…

What were the alternatives to a tax hike? The state could have kept limping along as it is, with bills piling up and getting paid later and later, if ever. That means the vendors and local service organizations that do business with the state would have paid the price for their association with Illinois. Some people might call that unfair.

There is the stubborn belief that cuts alone - just the waste, mind you, not the good stuff - will solve the problem, despite repeated assurances from all sorts of budget experts that those kinds of cuts are a fantasy, that the numbers involved are just too big. You’re talking about wholesale elimination of about half of Illinois government.

Of course, no one likes paying higher taxes. In the end, though, there were no other reasonable alternatives.

* As does former Gov. Jim Thompson…

He does not necessarily buy into the assumption by many that the tax hike, which raises individual income taxes from 3 percent to 5 percent and the corporate rate from 4.8 percent to 7 percent, will not be temporary. The tax is scheduled to drop to 3.75 percent in 2015.

Thompson signed a law that temporarily increased the tax from 2.5 percent to 3 percent. That increase took effect on Jan. 1, 1983, and went back to 2.5 percent on June 30, 1984.

“I went through and the people of Illinois went through in 1982-1983 the second-worst recession in American history,” Thompson said. “(The tax increase) wasn’t renewed, and so it can be done.”

The key to not continuing this year’s tax increase, according to Thompson, will be budget cuts and a better economy.

*** UPDATE *** Not that I usually care what they think, but I forgot to include this editorial from the New York Times…

For years, Illinois, like so many states, pretended that it had not fallen off a budgetary cliff. It was spending too much and taking in too little revenue, but every year it would kick its problems into the next. Unable to pay its bills, it finally accepted reality last week and raised taxes on incomes and businesses — a first step toward getting its house in order.

The action was immediately ridiculed by several governors around the nation who are still pretending that they can cut their way out of the enormous shortfalls they face, without raising taxes. Wisconsin and Indiana predicted a windfall of angry corporations and residents would head their way from Illinois. Even Gov. Chris Christie, the New Jersey Republican, vowed to fly to Illinois to invite businesses there to defect to his state.

That makes great political theater. But businesses and voters in Illinois, and around the country, should take a closer look at the facts and figures, including their own. […]

With federal stimulus aid ending, states are in for their worst year in generations, and they cannot get out of it by either cutting or taxing alone. Illinois is figuring that out, finally. Too many other states are still in denial.

* Related…

* Legislators defend tax increase - State was facing imminent insolvency, Alton Democrats say

* Don’t follow Illinois’ lead: “The idea of competing on state tax rates is … hopelessly out of date,” said Ed Morrison, economic policy adviser for the Purdue Center for Regional Development.

* Illinois moving up the tax charts - But increase is unlikely to turn state into the highest taxed: Even with the tax increase passed last week by Illinois lawmakers and signed by Gov. Pat Quinn, Illinois’ tax burden won’t be among the country’s heaviest. But it is nothing to sneeze at, said Joseph Henchman, director of state projects for the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation.

* Tax hikes will prove to be an onerous burden, local business people say: To make matters worse, Poe doesn’t know how she’ll be able to afford the additional taxes, given that the state owes her business money that hasn’t been paid. She has no idea what happened to some of the expenses for which she asked for reimbursement and has been resubmitting claims to no avail. “Many of the bills are eight months out that need to be paid,” Poe said. “We just got payment recently for something in 2009. I have no idea if they just went into a black hole because we’re not getting payment on them.”

* Companies: Tax hike will hurt recruiting

* Mike Lawrence: More revenue just 1 aspect of fixing state’s finances

* Who won, and who lost, in Springfield?

* Gambling expansion still up for grabs

* R&R courtesy of good government: It was Illinois Sen. Paul Douglas who led the long battle a half-century ago to set aside the precious [Indiana] dunescapes. Business interests put up a stiff fight, but in the end a compromise set aside land for steel mills — and jobs — while preserving much of the rest.