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Gov. Rauner denies that tax hike revenues are needed now, but won’t back immediate repeal

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Illinois

Rauner said he would favor a gradual reduction in income taxes — not an immediate repeal — after the Legislature this summer increased the individual income tax rate from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent.

“What we need to do is roll that income tax hike back over time. It won’t happen day one but if we can reduce it in the future years, bring it down over time — a lot of states have no income tax, I’m not advocating that necessarily — but I’d like to bring it back to 3 percent, where it used to be for a long time,” the governor told reporters.

Asked if his call for reducing the income tax “over time” was an admission that the tax increase was needed, Rauner said it wasn’t.

“No, absolutely not, just the opposite,” he said. “We’ve got to shrink the spending in order to keep a balanced budget. That’s why it takes a couple of years to do.”

OK.

You’ll recall that Rauner made the exact same pledge to roll the rate back to 3 percent during the 2014 campaign.

* Meanwhile…

Washington University School of Medicine doctors who had stopped seeing new patients insured through the state of Illinois changed course November 1 and began accepting them again. That could be seen as progress.

After all, Illinois’ two-year state budget impasse — a political fight between the state’s Republican governor and Democrats who control the General Assembly — left health care providers in and outside the state struggling to serve patients while dealing with payments that were up to two years overdue.

Some of the Washington University doctors, those who practice at outpatient clinics, St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, had decided to stop accepting new patients insured through Illinois’ State Employees Group Insurance Program a year ago because of the payment delays.

Even though the state still owes Washington University $14.5 million, the medical school’s decision to rescind any previous restrictions was a recognition that the Illinois General Assembly passed a budget this past summer — over Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto — and recently took action to hasten repayment of debts to the school and other vendors waiting on state payments, a university spokeswoman says.

* Related…

* Despite outflow of high earners, Dem gov. candidates push progressive tax

* Rauner suffers more veto losses than usual after fellow Republicans vote for more overrides

* State owes CWLP $5.5 million; holiday lights will still go up on Capitol

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Nov 13, 17 @ 2:59 pm

Comments

Two-Face Brucie says, “You have to be this gullible, to believe that I need to be reelected to finish what I never started.”

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Nov 13, 17 @ 3:08 pm
Wow. Full phoniness on display today. Holden Caulfield would be out of his mind.

Comment by Lt Guv Monday, Nov 13, 17 @ 3:09 pm
Well we tried just cutting taxes with no plan agreed on how to cope with the aftermath. That didn’t work out so well.

So how about next time we first get an agreed spending plan that has a surplus, and then cut taxes? Not that I think it could be done, but if you can’t do it you need the tax revenue.

Comment by UIC Guy Monday, Nov 13, 17 @ 3:13 pm
You’ll remember his plege to “roolback” in ‘14 was total hocus pocus because the rate rolled itself back. No nned for GovJunk to get his fingers dirty.
The results were massive devastation in colleges and universities, social services and millions made by GovJunk banker pals in the Vendor Assistance.

Comment by Annonin' Monday, Nov 13, 17 @ 3:23 pm
Send him a tax cut in election year. Then he can go on campaigning as state government once again implodes.

Comment by 360 Degree TurnAround Monday, Nov 13, 17 @ 3:30 pm
This story and the one “Madigan did it” and the one “Rauner Campaign Identifies Accomplishemnts and the one Rauner Kicks off Campaign” are all the same hypocrisy and lies.

Will the democrat candidates please unite and collectively hammer Rauner on these lies. They can all point out why they are the best person to defeat him but please don’t miss the chance to severely weaken him for the general election.

Comment by don the legend Monday, Nov 13, 17 @ 3:34 pm
Governor Small must be smilin’ in his grave thanks to this current ‘governor’. Thanks to Blago and Rauner, he’s moved up two notches from the bottom.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Nov 13, 17 @ 3:37 pm
If the tax hike revenues are not needed, Gov. Rauner has the power not to spend that money. Let’s see him do it.

also, let’s see him account for the $2.8B he spent in
FY17 that was not appropriated.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Nov 13, 17 @ 3:44 pm
Governor- Explain the $16 billion dollar back log and how we have enough revenue.

Are you suggesting a 50% budget cut?

Please show your work.

Thanks.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, Nov 13, 17 @ 3:54 pm
Of course the tax increase wasn’t needed. He wasn’t done running social service agencies out of business and hadn’t achieved any university closings yet.

Comment by Demoralized Monday, Nov 13, 17 @ 3:58 pm
Washington University Doctors, and their specialty practices and departments, are routinely rated in the “Top 10″ nationally and is highly regarded by those of us who live close and are fortunate enough to have had referrals and access.

State employees, who have been paying their share of the insurance premium, should be entitled to equal access and to the best specialists in their fields.

I applaud this decision by WashU and only hope that the $14.5 million that is owed by Illinois can be quickly be made current.

Comment by illini Monday, Nov 13, 17 @ 4:14 pm