* Former Gov. Jim Edgar told Lee Newspapers that he has ” never seen a tax proposal be more dead on arrival,” than the governor’s gross receipts tax. Here’s more from the interview…

“Nobody’s ever for a tax increase until the last minute when it passes. It’s always kind of misleading to bank everything on what people are saying before they actually vote for it.” […]

“When [Blagojevich] came into state government, the state already had a serious financial problem, and it’s just gotten worse since. Not that he ever asked me, but my advice would be that you deal with this early instead of later because of two things. One, it’s going to get worse. And two, it’s your problem.” […]

“I think if you don’t do it this year, things are just going to continue to get a lot worse. And it just means what you do is going to have to be more massive. If they don’t do it this year, I think the state is in very, very serious financial trouble. The problems aren’t going to go away.”

Go read the whole thing.

* My syndicated newspaper column describes the “slow-motion train wreck” of a session and takes a look ahead. Subscribers know that I’ve since altered my view somewhat, but here it is…

There are at least three possible outcomes to this circus of a session, although things have a way of changing fast around here:

The three leaders finally put their animosity aside, sit down and cut a deal on a scaled-back version of the gross-receipts tax and add in things like gaming expansion, a lottery lease and a few other magical tricks to boost the total revenue package.

Failing that, Madigan sends the Senate some sort of income/sales tax increase to boost education spending and provide property tax relief and Jones has to decide whether he wants to abandon the governor — with whom he’s been allied all year — and then risk a summer-long fight with Blagojevich after the governor vetoes the tax hike.

Maintenance budget. The governor warned last week that a “do-nothing” budget would result in a billion dollars in spending cuts. But this option is starting to look good to some Democratic legislators who would rather be on the anti-tax increase side of a summer argument. The governor didn’t convince many legislators that this was a bad move by warning that some high school football teams wouldn’t be able to afford new jerseys if legislators tried to leave town without a tax hike. First of all, the vast majority of high schools don’t use taxpayer dollars for things like jerseys (that’s why they sell candy); and secondly, if that’s the worst thing that could happen, then why bother raising taxes and freaking out the voters?

* The Wall Street Journal editorialized on the GRT today - unfavorably, of course - and slipped in this little gem…

Illinois Senator Barack Obama has been silent on his Governor’s tax implosion, but someone should get him on the record.

Not a bad idea.

* More GRT links, compiled by our faithful intern Paul Richardson…

* Editorial: Governor’s tax tactics too much

* Editorial: Now will Blago get the message

* Laney: GRT is a death threat to Illinois business

* With governor’s tax plan near death, other options get look

* Martire: Stage set for compromise to reach Governor’s goals

* Statehouse Insider: Rough times for Rod, Madigan moving forward

* Dr. Young: Illinois needs a single payer public insurance plan