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* Comptroller Leslie Munger at the Chicago Tribune editorial board debate with her opponents…
“We have to pass a balanced budget. I don’t know how you pass a balanced budget, unless you literally cut social services completely as an example, cut education,” Munger said. “You cannot get to a balanced budget without a growing economy in our state right now. We cannot do it.”
* SEIU Healthcare used that quote to slam her…
WHAT?!?! @lesliemungeril, @GovRauner's wingman, says we have to "cut social services completely" https://t.co/sq5sAYblF0 #twill
— SEIU HCIIMK (@SEIUhciimk) August 29, 2016
* Politifact justifiably rated the union’s claim “False.” Its reasoning…
The video includes Munger’s comments in their entirety, though both the title and the description imply the comptroller was saying the state needs to completely eliminate funding for social services to balance the budget.
Despite Munger making clear she was using such cuts as “an example” to illustrate how drastic cuts alone would have to be, SEIU makes it appear as if Munger wants and is proposing to eliminate all funding for social services in the video as well as on its social media accounts.
Munger reiterated her support for an income tax increase as long as it’s “coupled” with reductions in spending, noting the current individual income tax rate of 3.75 percent would have to be hiked up to about 8 percent just to pay down the state’s current $8.1 billion backlog of unpaid bills.
“You cannot cut enough to get to a balanced budget, so you need revenue,” Munger said during the debate. “And you cannot raise revenue enough to get it balanced without a growing economy.”
This statement also debunks SEIU’s contention that Munger wants to “cut social services completely,” and further clarifies she was saying the state never would be able to make cuts as severe as what you would need to balance the budget as things currently stand.
Agreed.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 9:38 am
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Each 1% point increase in the individual income tax raises approximately $4 billion. So the claim that the rate would need to be increase to 8% to pay off $8 billion in unpaid bills is also false.
But that’s just math, so I guess it doesn’t count.
Comment by Juice Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 9:43 am
The bar is on the ground, it can’t get any lower. That’s for most of the negative ads btw.
Comment by a drop in Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 9:45 am
Dear SEIU,
I love unions. I wish they were stronger. But it’s crap like this that makes us look bad. Please stop with the poorly guided “gotchas.”
Comment by Sick & Tired Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 9:46 am
This not just in, SEIU frequently engages in disingenuous politics.
Comment by Deft Wing Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 9:47 am
Sorry to tell you Wingwoman, the neoliberal solution to “freeing” the market is not going to work and has not worked in states like Kansas and Louisiana. As a matter of fact, both of those states are now fiscal ruins.
Darth Arduin may have seduced Munger and Rauner to the economic dark side but the residents of this state need only look at the results of Kansas and Louisiana.
Comment by Honeybear Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 9:47 am
Dear SEIU,
Please just stop this type of rhetoric. It doesn’t help lend credence to unions’ side of the debate.
Sincerely,
AFSCME member
Comment by Cubs in '16 Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 9:48 am
Was SEIU going to add the clip from the ed board where Mendoza admitted to not passing a balanced budget while in Spfld, contributing to the mess we are in today? But as Sir Reel says, hopes for low info voters must be daily convo around the SEIU water cooler.
Comment by menDOH!za Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 9:49 am
Note to SEIU- do you really want to be Trumpy??? Cut and paste and slanting only hurt you and helps Rauner and Co. immensely.
Comment by Anon221 Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 9:50 am
You have no credibility when you start out this way. Your own team is embarrassed by it. Any legitimate issue you have isn’t going to be heard now. Wow.
Comment by A guy Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 9:53 am
-Juice-
I wonder if she isn’t including both the about $11B shortfall from the current year’s non-budget plus the built-in structural shortfall of $4B as what it would take to fix things in one year and be in balance the following year. If you wanted to fix it that fast, then I could see 7% - 8%.
Or maybe she was just floating that number out there now so the actual hike to 6% or so won’t seem so bad when it actually happens?
Comment by RNUG Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 9:56 am
More Romper-Room economics from politicians.
The state’s role in “growing the economy” is to do all the things it’s not doing now — pay its bills, improve infrastructure, provide for education.
Instread, you get all this silly Maoist-like yammering of central planning from Springfield providing for a Great Leap Forward in the manufacturing sector (apparently, that’s all there is to the “state economy,” manufacturing, to hear the GOP commissars talk).
The politicians are failing, utterly, at doing their actual jobs, but some still believe them when they tell you they can “grow the economy.”
Some of the people, all of the time.
Comment by Anonymous Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 9:59 am
>“You cannot cut enough to get to a balanced budget, so you need revenue,” Munger said
Numerical truth! We must reinforce this behavior. SEIU, please don’t make any candidate afraid to acknowledge what must be done. Clobber her all you want, just choose better issues.
Comment by Earnest Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 10:02 am
Munger here is making very realistic policy point; acknowledging the need for higher taxes and cuts. excellent of her to do so. Finally a gop member admitting there is mo magical cut that works by itself. and when we get a reasonable gop position seiu muddies the waters by misquoting it! horrible strategy, they should be lauding her position and pushing it to other republicans.
Comment by Ghost Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 10:09 am
Pretty ignorant to go down this road.
Vote Accordingly and bettering the 2 in 5 union households is far better then this. Plus, if it’s geared towards members and Labor, making this a blanket proxy without the video should be enough.
This is just unnecessary baloney.
Making Munger play defense to a “Wingman” proxy is tough enough within Labor, so how about staying in that lane without this…
Ugh.
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 10:13 am
RNUG - probably correct when you take the $8.1 billion of current debt and add the more than $7 billion that you are going to spend over current revenues in the current fiscal year.
Comment by Arock Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 10:27 am
You don’t win with such easily exposed lies.
Lie better.
Comment by VanillaMan Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 10:40 am
===Any legitimate issue you have isn’t going to be heard now. Wow.===
A guy, I detest this blatant “phrase-splicing” lies from both sides, but I think the people that listened to SEIU Healthcare before will still do so, and others like yourself will continue to ignore them like you always have. This won’t change a thing.
Comment by PublicServant Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 10:42 am
I’ll feel sorry for Munger as soon as she gets her buddy Bruce to show the economic growth analysis of the turnaround agenda. We’ve been waiting for some time.
Comment by Daniel Plainview Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 11:23 am
=== but I think the people that listened to SEIU Healthcare before will still do so===
I’m not sure. Smart people try to reduce their exposure to fools. I think SEIU embarrassed their membership with this one. It’s not the first time. The people who hadn’t thought about them one way or the other will view them as “nutty”. At least today, they will be right.
Comment by A guy Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 11:50 am
The question here is–as always with published misinformation–how many people will see the Politifact piece and its “false” rating in addition to the initial SEIU lie which it exposes and attempts to correct? How many people will just take the SEIU headline tweet at face value and pass it along without ever even knowing there is much more to the story? So, SEIU members who comment here, seriously, is this OK with you? Does this sort of obvious dishonesty/misrepresentation from the union which represents you sit well within your own personal ethics? Has anyone taken the time this morning to contact your union and urge them to quit taking you for fools and damaging the union’s external reputation by publishing stuff like that?
Comment by Responsa Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 12:01 pm
“Lie better.”
+1
– MrJM
Comment by @MisterJayEm Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 12:02 pm
SEIU is spewing bunk, not helpful to their cause.
But Munger’s claim, “You cannot get to a balanced budget without a growing economy in our state right now. We cannot do it,” is equally bogus. Sure, a growing economy is what we want, but even with our current sluggish economy, IL still has slightly above average per capita income and lower than average per capita spending (on education for example). Why then can other states balance their budgets but not IL?
Our exceptionally regressive tax system is what differentiates IL from most other states. Fix that, and noting that we don’t have to pay down the state’s debt (including the part that Rauner inherited and the part that he is directly responsible for) in one year, and we can have a balanced budget with only a modest tax increase for the average taxpayer.
Yes, we can and should make cuts where appropriate, too. However, many parts of state government have already been cut to the bone.
Munger’s claim is only valid if we require that the most wealthy IL citizens continue to enjoy a tax haven. That luxury for those who don’t need it is what we can’t afford.
Comment by X-prof Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 12:11 pm
As Rauner’s popularity tanks, so goes Munger.
Comment by The Fool On The Hill Friday, Sep 9, 16 @ 12:43 pm