The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Illinois:
Bad Choice—Big Cuts or Higher Taxes

Mar 15, 2010

Democratic governor Pat Quinn says Illinois has a severe budget crisis–so the population faces two choices: 2.2 billion dollars in program cuts or a 1% income tax increase.

State workers would get furlough days and have to pay more for their health insurance. The governor would cut 76 million dollars from child care programs and 105 million dollars from aid to the disabled, among other cuts.

The 1% additional income tax would be added on to the 10% of income that workers’ families already pay in all types of state and local taxes.

There is an alternative to these two rotten choices. Make the corporations and the wealthy who own them pay. They have been paying less and less in taxes over the years, yet get hundreds of millions in subsidies. All these cuts could be eliminated, with no new tax on workers and the poor.