Prairie State Wire

Republican U.S. Senate hopeful and former Lake County sheriff Mark Curran is convinced there’s a method to the madness in Gov. J.B. Pritzker continuing to push his progressive tax agenda.

“It’s almost as if Democrats here want the state to be destroyed so badly that the federal government will have to bail us out,” Curran told the Prairie State Wire. “If we won’t help our small businesses at a time like this, we’re going to lose many of them. I know Gov. Pritzker is a multi-billionaire, maybe that makes him impervious to the pain of the middle-class. But just about everyone else will tell you this is not good.”

Running against longtime Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin, Curran argues the handwriting is on the wall. A new Illinois Policy Institute analysis projects that small businesses across the state soon could be forced to pay as much as a 50.3% marginal income tax rate should the tax appearing on the Nov. 3 ballot in the form of a referendum question garner the support it needs for passage. Ignoring growing warnings from many that the tax stands to handcuff small business owners even more, the governor continues to push his signature proposal as one that will only mean higher tax rates for the state’s most affluent residents.

Alarm bells are also sounding about the hike potentially cutting into the net job creation capabilities of small business owners, who at 60% easily rank as the state’s largest job creators.

“I don’t know many people that would trust Democrats in Springfield with even more power,” Curran added. “For all practical purposes, this state is already bankrupt and they’re the biggest reason why. This is about them wanting more of your hard-earned money to be able to make all their pension payments and pay for other spending.”

Curran said between now and Election Day he plans to spend time doing everything he can to make voters aware of why the plan would be all wrong for Illinois.

“I understand the strain that the state’s under,” he said. “For that reason, I would not be as opposed to a federal tax increase, but nothing on the state level that would only make us less competitive because people have choices that allow them to easily leave the state.”