* Let’s begin our coverage of the governor’s graduated income tax press conference with this Tribune excerpt…

GOP lawmakers and a pro-business political committee called Ideas Illinois, run by former Illinois Manufacturers’ Association chief Greg Baise, have attacked Pritzker’s proposal as a “jobs tax” and argued that it would push businesses and wealthy residents out of state.

“For those who will oppose a fair tax by waging a misinformation campaign, it is transparent that you are defending an unfair status quo that benefits the wealthiest Illinoisans instead of offering your own ideas for how to fix our state’s problems,” Pritzker said.

The governor cited a report from PolitiFact Illinois that rated the “jobs tax” claim as false.

The PolitiFact rating is here.

I’m dubious of that rating because the “jobs tax” phrase is basically just an advertising slogan.

So, for instance, the Sun-Times calls itself “The Hardest-Working Paper in America.”

But is it “really” the hardest-working paper in all of America? I’m sure I could find experts, as PolitiFact often does, to establish some benchmarks about what hard work is, and about how reporters work very hard all over the country. I could then send an e-mail to the paper’s publisher asking him to justify the slogan, then follow up with maybe the Tribune’s publisher to see if he agreed. And then I could easily rate that slogan “False” or even “Pants on Fire!” because it wasn’t true.

Yes, that would be silly, but don’t we generally hold newspapers to a higher standard than dark money committees? Should they be allowed to run such misleading ad campaigns? Who’s going to speak for the children?!

* Onward…

The proposed amendment to change Illinois’ constitution from a flat income tax to one with higher rates for higher earners will get a last-minute hearing Wednesday in Springfield. […]

On Tuesday, state Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, requested the six-day posting requirements to hold a committee hearing be waived. He asked for his Senate Joint Constitutional Amendment No. 1, which includes language to change the state’s flat tax to a tax structure that levies higher rates on higher incomes, to be heard in the Senate Executive Committee on Wednesday.

State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, objected.

“What’s at issue here is a substantive amendment to the Illinois constitution that will affect the finances and taxes of millions of Illinoisans,” Righter said. “At the very least, the six days notice required is appropriate for this body … to have a conversation about the contents of the amendment and the effects it might have on our constituents.”

I don’t particularly care for the posting waiver, either. But, really, what actual “conversation” can Senators have while the proposal awaits a committee hearing? Isn’t that what a hearing is for?

* The proposed constitutional amendment deletes this line from the existing document…

At any one time there may be no more than one such tax imposed by the State for State purposes on individuals and one such tax so imposed on corporations.

* Republicans pounced…

Under the proposed language, they argued, the state would actually be allowed to levy multiple income taxes, each for a different purpose, which would effectively allow the state to tax the same income multiple times. […]

“That means it could set up for all kinds of surcharges,” Maisch said. “It means you could go ahead and actually have a second income tax to go ahead and fund, I don’t know, transportation or whatever the other need is. But they are eliminating that taxpayer protection that says, ‘this dollar of income can only be taxed once by the state.’” […]

According to Harmon, the prohibition on levying multiple income taxes was simply a companion to the requirement for a single, flat tax rate. Without that prohibition, he said, the framers feared that lawmakers could levy a series of “flat” taxes on different levels of income – say, for example, one on income up to $30,000; another “flat” rate on income between $30,000 and $60,000, and so on – effectively creating a multi-tiered tax structure through a series of limited “flat” taxes on different levels of income.

By allowing the state to create a multi-tiered tax structure, Harmon said, the prohibition on multiple taxes would become unnecessary.

Furthermore, he said, if supporters of the proposed change had left in the prohibition on multiple taxes, critics would likely argue that a multi-tiered structure would violate that prohibition.

* Here’s the newly originally proposed language…

There may be one tax on the income of individuals and corporations. This may be a fair tax where lower rates apply to lower income levels and higher rates apply to higher income levels. No government other than the State may impose a tax on or measured by income.

I get what Harmon is saying, but somebody may have over-thought that language deletion. They should’ve just left the originally proposed language in place.

…Adding… Um, so how does one get this headline…

Study: Pritzker’s tax hike more likely to force out middle, lower earners

From this?…

One of the arguments from opponents of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposed progressive income-tax amendment to the Illinois Constitution is that another tax hike, particularly on upper-income earners, will encourage more people to leave the state.

But a new study conducted by Chicago’s Better Government Association contends that statistics do not support that contention. At the same time, the BGA study shows that the earners Pritzker says he cares about most — middle- and lower-income earners — are the hardest hit by tax increases and most likely to leave the state because of them.

Unlike all previous income tax hikes, this one would only be on upper-income folks.