Prairie State Wire

When it comes to fiscal policy, Illinois J. B. Pritzker is at the bottom of his class, the Cato Institute said.

Pritzker scored an "F” on the institute’s recent fiscal report card, which grades all 50 state governors in the U.S.

“Gov. Pritzker earns one of the lowest grades on this study due to his large tax increases,” the report states.

Pritzker signed a $2.7 billion tax increase last year that hiked the gas tax from 19 cents to 38 cents per gallon, cigarette taxes from $1.98 per pack to $2.98 and extended sales taxes to online purchases.

“One good move, however, was enacting a phaseout of the state’s corporate franchise tax, which is an unneeded burden on businesses in addition to the state’s corporate income tax,” the report said.

The state has high debt obligations that haven’t been funded and the lowest bond rating of any state in the nation, according to the report.

Yet Pritzker’s proposed 2021 budget will increase spending by 5.7% in part borrowing money from a Federal Reserve emergency program, according to Cato Institute's report.

Another big tax increase could be on the way. In November, Illinois voters will decide on a constitutional amendment to allow a multi-rate income tax instead of the current flat tax. Pritzker supports the amendment

“The current income tax has a flat rate of 4.95%, and, if the amendment passes, legislation is in place to replace it with a six‐rate system with a top rate of 7.99%,” Cato said.

That would erode the tax base by forcing wealthier residents to move, the report states. It cited Internal Revenue Service data showing the Illinois already loses twice as many high-income taxpayers than it attracted each year.

Under the amendment, the corporate income tax rate would increase from 9.5% to 10.49%, Cato Institute said. Overall, the individual and corporate income plans would raise taxes by an enormous $3.9 billion a year, the institute said.

The four governors who received an “A” have cut taxes and spending. Those governors represent New Hampshire, Iowa, New Hampshire and Nebraska.

Also receiving an "F'' from Cato were the governors of New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Michigan, Oregon and Washington

“Governors receiving an F have raised taxes and spending the most,” said the Cato Institute, which has issued the fiscal report card every year since 2008.

State	Governor	Score	Grade
New Hampshire	Chris Sununu (R)	75	A
Iowa	Kim Reynolds (R)	71	A
Nebraska	Pete Ricketts (R)	70	A
Wyoming	Mark Gordon (R)	66	A
Arkansas	Asa Hutchinson (R)	64	B
Texas	Greg Abbott (R)	62	B
Vermont	Phil Scott (R)	61	B
Georgia	Brian Kemp (R)	61	B
Florida	Ron DeSantis (R)	61	B
South Dakota	Kristi Noem (R)	59	B
Nevada	Steve Sisolak (D)	57	B
Indiana	Eric Holcomb (R)	56	B
South Carolina	Henry McMaster (R)	56	B
North Carolina	Roy Cooper (D)	54	C
West Virginia	Jim Justice (R)	53	C
California	Gavin Newsom (D)	53	C
Montana	Steve Bullock (D)	53	C
Louisiana	John Bel Edwards (D)	53	C
Wisconsin	Tony Evers (D)	52	C
Missouri	Mike Parson (R)	52	C
New Mexico	Michelle Lujan Grisham (D)	51	C
Idaho	Brad Little (R)	51	C
Pennsylvania	Tom Wolf (D)	51	C
Maryland	Larry Hogan (R)	51	C
Delaware	John Carney (D)	51	C
Colorado	Jared Polis (D)	50	C
Hawaii	David Ige (D)	49	D
Utah	Gary Herbert (R)	49	D
North Dakota	Doug Burgum (R)	49	D
Rhode Island	Gina Raimondo (D)	49	D
Ohio	Mike DeWine (R)	49	D
Arizona	Doug Ducey (R)	49	D
Oklahoma	Kevin Stitt (R)	48	D
Massachusetts	Charlie Baker (R)	48	D
Maine	Janet Mills (D)	45	D
Minnesota	Tim Walz (D)	44	D
Connecticut	Ned Lamont (D)	43	D
Alabama	Kay Ivey (R)	42	D
Kansas	Laura Kelly (D)	41	D
Tennessee	Bill Lee (R)	40	D
Virginia	Ralph Northam (D)	39	F
New York	Andrew Cuomo (D)	39	F
Michigan	Gretchen Whitmer (D)	39	F
New Jersey	Phil Murphy (D)	32	F
Illinois	J. B. Pritzker (D)	30	F
Oregon	Kate Brown (D)	29	F
Washington	Jay Inslee (D)	18	F