With the end of the
year approaching, State Senator Pamela Althoff (R-McHenry) said several new
measures will become law on Jan. 1 plus there are a number of issues that will
come before the General Assembly in the upcoming session.
Althoff said one of
those issues could be a proposal to enact a progressive income tax in Illinois.
The prospect of Illinois
moving to a progressive, or graduated, income tax attracted attention in early
September and some lawmakers are still floating the idea to make it a reality
in Illinois. Opponents say that the
graduated tax discussion is a thinly disguised attempt to increase taxes on
most Illinoisans and a way to keep the temporary tax increase enacted in 2011
permanent.
Thirty-four States
plus the District of Columbia have graduated income taxes. The national Tax Foundation compiles information
on tax rates across the country that can help the public determine how a
graduated tax might play out in Illinois.
While proponents of
the graduated tax claim that only those earning more than $150,000 a year in Illinois
would pay higher taxes, that has not been the case in other states. Taxpayers
with incomes of $50,000 or more pay a higher rate than Illinois’ current 5%
rate in two-thirds of the states that have a graduated tax.
Imposing a graduated
tax would require amending the Illinois Constitution, as it currently prohibits
a graduated tax.
Tax money not used as promised
Althoff said Senate
Republicans have warned since the passage of the 67% income tax hike that
unless Governor Pat Quinn and his fellow Democrats took major steps to cut
spending, the state would face a major financial cliff when the tax was
promised to expire.
Although the tax
increase was sold to the public as a way to pay off old bills and get the
state’s financial house in order, much of the money has instead been used to
expand state programs.
Illinois has embarked
on a major expansion of Medicaid, including an early and optional expansion in
advance of the implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act.
House and Senate
Republicans have expressed concerns that the Quinn administration is not
aggressively implementing Medicaid reforms needed to save the state millions.
Attorney General’s Christmas toy
warnings
Each year the state’s
Attorney General releases a Safe Shopping Guide—hoping to
address the growing concerns of recalled children’s products being sold on secondhand
websites such as eBay, Craigslist and Amazon.
As the holiday season
nears, Attorney General Lisa Madigan warns consumers about the dangers of
buying toys that have been found by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC) to be choking, noise or chemical hazards. Although recalled products
must be removed from store shelves, many of these products can be found online
– posing risks for children.
The 2013 Safe
Shopping Guide features nearly 100 different children’s products that have been
recalled due to defective components.
Countdown to new laws
The countdown
continues to January 1, when more than 200 new laws will go into effect. But,
not all laws going into effect will have a positive effect on the state.
The process of having
a criminal record expunged (or wiped clean) is the focus of one controversial
new law. During the past week, the problem was highlighted when the Chicago Sun-Times ran a two-part story
on a Quinn administration official who holds a six-figure position, despite two
dozen arrests and having been fired for lewd and inappropriate emails.
The individual had
been able to have much of his criminal record expunged. House Bill 2470, which
passed with no Republican support in the Senate would make the process easier
for convicted criminals. The measure passed despite concerns raised by the
Illinois State Police during committee hearings about its potential impact on
public safety.
Small businesses opposed bills
A trio of measures
opposed by small businesses also will go into effect January 1. All were
approved despite unanimous Republican opposition in the Senate.
Opponents raised
concerns because all three measures impose new regulatory burdens on smaller
employers, while exempting large unionized companies from having to meet the
same requirements.
They fear increased
regulatory burdens will further harm the state’s small businesses at a time
when Illinois has the second highest unemployment rate in the country and
questioned why regulations were being applied unevenly. The state’s major small
business organization, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB),
opposed all three bills.
House Bill 923
requires construction companies to report payments to nonemployees for
construction services. Proponents argued
it would ensure that contractors are properly funding workers’ compensation and
unemployment insurance by paying related taxes. However, the legislation
offered an exemption that can only be met by union contractors.
Kim Clarke-Maisch who
is the Illinois State Director for the NFIB, said her organization fears
innocent employers could be hurt for honest mistakes.
“Organized labor
contends contractors are erroneously making employees independent contractors
in order to escape paying workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance and
other related taxes. Unfortunately, the reporting comes with a debarment
clause that could put many contractors, which make honest mistakes, out of
business,” she said.
House Bill 2649 makes
changes to Illinois’ Employee Classification Law and requires hearings for
those employers accused of wrongly classifying workers as independent
contractors. As with HB 923, proponents argue employers are attempting to evade
payroll taxes. But again, the measure was crafted to offer an exemption only to union employers.
House Bill 3223,
which requires additional employee information to meet certified payroll
requirements under the Prevailing Wage Act, could result in ending an
employer’s ability to secure future state work merely for paperwork mistakes,
according to Clark-Maisch.
“The new requirements
are troublesome not only for the sheer amount of extra work, but the likelihood
that mistakes could be made. Mistakes under the Prevailing Wage law are
costly. Two violations in five years and
a contractor is barred from state work, potentially taking away someone’s
livelihood and the jobs they create,” she said.
Child Deaths Probed
Finally, a special
Senate Subcommittee held a hearing in Chicago to quiz the state’s child
protection agency on recent media reports that show a record high number of child deaths
from abuse and neglect under the Quinn administration.
In the last fiscal
year (which ended July 1), 111 children died in Illinois from abuse or neglect,
the most since annual records began in 1981. Senators were particularly
interested in the cases of 68 children in Fiscal Years 2011 and 2012 who died
despite the fact that DCFS had been involved in their cases.
