Prairie State Wire

Republican state House candidate Peter Breen thinks it’s now or never for voters when it comes to standing up to Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

“The flat income tax system is one of the few checks we have left on the General Assembly’s power to reach into the pockets of Illinois workers,” Breen, who is now running against incumbent state Rep. Terra Costa-Howard (D-Glen Ellyn) in the 48th District, told the Will County Gazette. “And now the governor wants to take that away with his progressive income tax system, which really would be like just giving Springfield a blank check to tax.”

The governor is working hard to pass the proposal he’s been pushing since his days as a candidate, with the Chicago Tribune reporting he recently contributed at least $51 million to a ballot initiative committee working to sell the measure to voters before November. Vote Yes to Fairness, a committee headed by the governor’s former deputy campaign manager, recently received the funds and is already at work selling the idea of abandoning the state’s current flat tax for a progressive tax system.

In addition to being the only individual to contribute more than $250, Pritzker’s latest gift comes on a top of an earlier donation of $5 million. Breen wants voters to know what they would be getting themselves into by approving the tax.

“Recently we’ve seen that graduated income tax systems open states up to taxing retirement income, which is very disturbing” he said. “Here in Illinois, it’ll just lead to more people fleeing the state. We’ve already seen the state treasurer say we could see a retirement tax. People have had enough of all the runaway taxes.”

Breen argues small business owners are among those hit the hardest.

“Small business people are treated worse by the State of Illinois government than any other group,” he said. “And this tax will hit them even harder. At a time when so many of them are already fighting for survival, this tax will be another massive burden to deal with.”

Through it all, the governor has sought to sell the tax as a change that will only mean higher rates for the state’s most affluent residents. Voters will have their say in November’s general election, where approval from 60% of those who vote on the issue or a majority of those who vote in the election overall is needed for passage.