Prairie State Wire

Republican state House candidate Peter Breen wants voters to be fully aware of what they would be getting themselves into by going along with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s progressive income tax proposal.

“The graduated income tax hike discussion is getting lost in all the media coverage of everything that’s happening right now,” Breen told the Prairie State Wire. “But when you look at what is going to be on people’s ballots this fall, this is one of the things that stands to have incredible long-term impact. If this passes, it gives a blank check to the General Assembly to raise taxes without limit.”

Running against incumbent state Rep. Terra Costa-Howard (D-Glen Ellyn) in the 48th District, Breen recently teamed with sitting state Reps. Amy Grant and Deanne Mazzochi to host a "No Unfair Tax" town hall where they warned already stressed taxpayers the time to take a stand is now.

“We’ve seen in states like Connecticut that if you enact this system it only drives more residents and businesses away and the state ends up being much worse off,” Breen added. “The trend today is for states to move to our current flat tax system because it’s the fairest way. Even for folks that think the graduated tax is better in the current environment, where Illinois is seen as a terrible place to do business and raise a family, you have to wonder why would you add something new that makes it harder for people to be here.”

With veteran state Sen. Terry Link (D-Indian Creek) recently becoming the fourth Democratic lawmaker who’s strongly backed the tax to find himself facing criminal charges, Breen thinks he may have an answer.

“The roots of the graduated tax hike are deep in the soil of the political machine that corrupts Illinois,” he said. “If you didn’t have so much corruption that raises the demand for tax dollars, we wouldn’t be considering things like this.”

Now facing tax evasion charges, Link joins former state Rep. Luis Arroyo, who could get up to 10 years in prison at trial, and state Sen. Tom Cullerton, who has been hit with a 41-count indictment on embezzlement charges as those still on the hot seat. One-time state Sen. Martin Sandoval has already plead guilty to taking $250,000 in bribes from SafeSpeed, a red-light camera vendor.