* Gov. Bruce Rauner appeared before the Illinois Agricultural Legislative Roundtable yesterday and was whether he supported abolishing the estate tax. Here’s his reply…
Our estate tax should be eliminated. I’ve recommended that every year that I’ve been governor.
He has? I couldn’t find anything on Google about an official proposal while he’s been governor to abolish the estate/inheritance/death tax. Maybe you can help me find something because I also asked his press office for a response and haven’t heard back. And I searched through all of his budget addresses and couldn’t find anything, either…
* 2015
* 2016
* 2017
* 2018
*** UPDATE *** Text from Rep. Stephanie Kifowit (D-Oswego)…
Hi Rich, Just saw the blog. I introduced HB0648 - which would protect family farms from the estate tax if it is passed down to a qualified heir. It got stalled in subcommittee and I never once was contacted by the Governors office about it. I’m reintroducing it again next session.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
But, hey, at least the governor is now firmly on record….
Pritzker said he hopes to keep the estate tax from hurting farmers but didn’t come out completely against it.
* Speaking of stuff that isn’t true…
“I’ve lived in Illinois for 62 years, my entire life. I don’t know of a more important election in my lifetime than this election. Everything is on the line,” Rauner said.
I guess those years he spent at Dartmouth and Harvard don’t count?
…Adding… He also lived in Arizona for a few years before college…
In 1971, when Rauner was a student at Lake Forest High School, the family moved to Scottsdale, Arizona. Vincent had left his law firm to head up Motorola’s lucrative patents division, based in nearby Phoenix. Rauner finished high school there, then entered Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1974.
He returned to Chicago for a year in 1978. Then left again.
* More on taxes…
“Pritzker has proposed a mileage tax on cars. … Put a box in your car, measure your miles and pay a tax based on how many miles you drive,” Rauner told reporters after addressing about 100 at the Illinois Agricultural Legislative Roundtable at Rader Farms. “That’ll be devastating for farm families (and) anyone who lives in a small town or rural community.”
Pritzker denied that he has such a plan but didn’t back away from the idea entirely while addressing reporters after his remarks.
“What I said is there are tests that have been done on this (tax) and I think we’ve got to look for how we’re going to pay for infrastructure in the state. It’s not anything definitive,” said Pritzker. “We can’t … go without an infrastructure capital bill for the state. It’s late at this point.”
This is what Pritzker said in January that got Rauner all riled up…
“In some states (such as Oregon) they have done tests recently for a VMT tax because we have more and more electric cars on the road, more and more hybrids, and because gas mileage is rising. It’s only fair if you’re on a road and traveling on that road that you should pay your fair share,” he said.
A VMT tax “is something we should look at … we have to careful how it gets implemented and that’s why it should only be a test at this point.”
Voters don’t do nuance.
* One more tax thing…
On ethanol-based fuels E-85 and E-15, however, Pritzker was more assertive, saying he completely supports sales tax exemptions to encourage farmers to work with those alternative energy sources. Rauner said he would like to negotiate some kind of new policy.
* Related…
* Rauner, Pritzker Face Off in Southern Illinois Forum: “Higher taxes and more corruption which is what Madigan and my challenger are really part of,” he said. He also embraced several Trump administration policies. “The White House and Congress cut the tax burden, removed the red tape on businesses, fought unfair trade deals,” he said. “We need to do the exact same thing for the state of Illinois.” He even incorporated a familiar phrase. “This is the greatest place on earth, Illinois, and we’re going to make it great again,” Rauner said.
* Gov. Bruce Rauner, J.B. Pritzker clash at agriculture forum over Trump policies: Rauner also appeared to acknowledge the region’s support for Trump and how that could assist him after largely distancing himself from the controversial president. “Lower the taxes, roll back the income tax hike, cut the red tape and we’ll get Illinois booming just the way the federal government has done for the U.S. economy,” Rauner said. “The U.S. economy is strong. Illinois is doing fairly well because the federal government — the White House and Congress — has cut the tax burden, cut the red tape on businesses, fought unfair trade deals, fought against illegal immigration, and we’re strong and we’re getting stronger. We need to do that exact same thing for the state of Illinois,” he said.
* Rauner, Pritzker Make Back-To-Back Pitches To Illinois Farmers: Pritzker said Rauner hasn’t delivered for Illinois farmers, including during the two-year budget standoff. He cited the 2017 closure of the Department of Agriculture’s Galesburg Animal Disease Laboratory, at the time the state’s only animal-disease testing lab.
* Rauner Vetoes Bill to Create Urban Agriculture Zones in Illinois: This spring, the legislation passed the Illinois House by a vote of 86-22 and the state Senate by a unanimous 55-0 vote. But Rauner issued an amendatory veto Monday, proposing to strip the bill of property tax abatements and other incentives that would have benefitted urban farmers. Using property tax abatements to incentivize growing “would continue a problematic pattern of shifting property taxes to other taxpayers who may or may not directly benefit from the creation of these Urban Agriculture Zones,” Rauner said in his veto message. “Abatements like this simply redistribute property taxes, when homeowners are already struggling under the immense weight of their own tax burdens.”
