Prairie State Wire

Peter Breen views voters’ rejection of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s progressive tax plan as an obvious indicator of the growing disconnect between the sides.

“The tax going down is the way the people of Illinois are saying they’ve tired of the tax and spend ways of Democrats across the board,” Breen told the Prairie State Wire. “People have had enough and are ready to see something different from Springfield."

Despite the governor endlessly promoting the tax he has insisted since taking office would only mean higher rates for the state’s most affluent residents and pumping in access of $50 million of his own money into a campaign aimed at swaying voters, taxpayers soundly rejected the measure that required 60% approval from all voters for passage.

Breen, who narrowly lost his 48th District race against incumbent Terra Costa-Howard (D-Glen Ellyn) with nearly 47% of the vote, argues the progressive tax result offers hope for Republicans going forward.

“(House Speaker Mike) Madigan and the Democratic machine still have huge sums of money to win races where Republicans and Democratic ideas are not in accord with policy preferences of particular districts,” he added. “In my district, 56% of people rejected the tax hike and that give me some optimism for the future. That’s something Republicans should build on in the future. People want reform and if you can package that message they will embrace it.”

Breen has long been a vocal critic of the progressive tax plan, arguing that it stood to give lawmakers in Springfield a level of unchecked power they had done nothing to deserve.

“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,” he said. “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.”