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Bruce Rauner has a plan for Illinois taxpayers – now the question is, is Blago looking better than ever?

So-called Republican governor candidate Rauner has a “Bring Back Blueprint” to plug the leak of Illinois businesses and residents draining from the state. Trouble is, Rauner is not Gov. Walker (R-WI) or Gov. Pence (R-IN) or Gov. Snyder (R-MI) or Gov. Brownback (R-KS) or Gov. Branstad (R-IA). All these good neighbor governors have lowered taxes – some working with Democrat state legislatures – and all their states are financially sound, unlike Illinois.

Here’s Rauner’s plan for Illinois:

  • Lower state income taxes (slowly) for individuals (to 3 percent) and businesses (to 4.8 percent).
  • Expand the sales tax on businesses like advertising, janitorial and legal services, and travel agencies.
  • Freeze property taxes (unless voters approve tax hikes through referenda).
  • Increase the minimum wage to a “reasonable” $10 per hour.

Rauner has designed his tax agenda to appeal to his core constituency, suburban voters. The soccer families hate property and income taxes, and they don’t seem aware that none of his tax changes has a chance of coming to pass in Illinois anyway. After all, these are the folks who sang kumbaya as they passed Rauner’s dead-in-the-water petitions for term limits during the primary.

Never mind. Bruce Rauner has lots of money and a great campaign slogan: “I’m successful in everything I’ve ever done, and I’m a leader.” But is it time to lobby Bruce Rauner to take some heat and cook up some real conservative deals?

3 Responses

  2. Kirk Stergelewski

    Rauner’s plan is to cut taxes and raise taxes in a sector that is currently not taxed. While he would like to cut taxes everywhere, the media responds to liberal math. He does not want to raise the minimum wage. He is willing to raise the minimum wage if he can couple it with several probusiness/projob reforms.

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  3. WillyHze

    All four of your points are inaccurate and miss the larger point. The goal of an Illinois governor has to be keeping people and jobs here, while attracting new businesses, jobs and investment capital. None of the math works without true growth. The only way to balance the budget is to grow our economy. Rauner said he would allow a raise of the minimum wage to $10 an hour if he can couple the raise with a series of reforms that make it easier to do business in Illinois. That is not a betrayal of conservative values, that is a commitment to growth and pragmatic compromise. Our state is a mess and the system makes it almost impossible to fix. Rauner is proposing ideas that would help. One of his ideas, specific right to work zones, would help. Making the tax structure more level, so that our state doesn’t just keep lawyers here, would help. Quinn has no ideas that would help. The Republican party traditionally is, and should be, all about creating jobs. The Republicans in Illinois should be enthusiastic about Rauner.

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