Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Dr. Orphe Divounguy -- How to mislead Illinoisans into accepting higher taxes

A new report would have Illinoisans believe that a progressive income tax means tax cuts and economic growth. Illinois lawmakers’ tax-and-spend tendencies and evidence from all 50 states say otherwise.
Dr. Orphe Divounguy is the chief economist at the Illinois Policy Institute. In this role, he produces original quantitative research analyzing the impact of various policies on the lives of the people of Illinois.


(Illinois Policy
) -- A new report from the union-backed Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, or CTBA, is calling for Illinois to impose a progressive income tax. The center claims state lawmakers can have their cake and eat it too: a tax cut for a vast majority of residents, better economic growth and more revenue for the state. Those ideas have been echoed repeatedly by Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker.


But these claims are too good to be true, and rely on state lawmakers who have proven all too willing to squeeze taxpayers for revenue at every opportunity. If enacted, CTBA’s recommendations would wreak further havoc on household budgets and the state economy.


The CTBA report perpetuates four major myths in its pursuit of scrapping Illinois’ flat income tax.