Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider says he has seen it all before when it comes to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s newly proposed state budget.
“Skipping pension payments, borrowing new debt, raising taxes, increasing spending—it’s clear that J.B. Pritzker is the new Rod Blagojevich,” Schneider said in a press release following Pritzker’s first budget address. “Pritzker’s unbalanced budget proposal is more of the same: failed policies that got our state into the mess it’s currently in. Illinois taxpayers cannot afford to return to the budget deficits and failed policies of the Blagojevich era.”
Schneider also took exception with Pritzker’s call for issuing $2 billion in new obligation bonds and levying several new taxes.
“Shorting the pension system $800 million a year might be the most irresponsible proposal from Governor Pritzker’s 2020 budget,” Schneider added in the release. “Pritzker's decision to skip pension payments will cost billions of dollars more down the road. This is the exact opposite of what Pritzker pledged he would do during his campaign for governor.”
Finally, Schneider marveled at how much of Pritzker’s spending plan relies on revenues the state has never pocketed.
“It will take years to enact a theoretical graduated income tax, yet Pritzker is already committing that revenue to new projects,” he added. “Pritzker's budgeting is reckless and fiscally irresponsible. It's clear: J.B. Pritzker is the new Rod Blagojevich. Illinois taxpayers cannot afford to return to the budget deficits and failed policies of the Blagojevich era. Pritzker pledged to deliver a balanced budget, and he failed.”
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