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1 | SENATE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, Article IX, Section 3 of the Illinois Constitution | ||||||
3 | states, "A tax on or measured by income shall be at a | ||||||
4 | non-graduated rate."; and
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5 | WHEREAS, Article IX, Section 3 of the Illinois Constitution | ||||||
6 | was added during the 1969 Constitutional Convention and prior | ||||||
7 | to this, Illinois had no direct income tax; and
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8 | WHEREAS, A background paper written for the Committee of 50 | ||||||
9 | by J. Fred Giertz during the committee's review of the 1970 | ||||||
10 | Constitution in 1987 states, "Until 1969, Illinois had no | ||||||
11 | income tax. The status of the income tax under the Constitution | ||||||
12 | was cloudy. A graduated income tax was ruled unconstitutional | ||||||
13 | in 1932, but in 1969 the Illinois Supreme Court overruled its | ||||||
14 | 1932 decision, permitting a flat rate tax on income with a | ||||||
15 | different rate for corporations and individuals. Therefore, | ||||||
16 | when the convention was deliberating the 1970 Constitution, | ||||||
17 | Illinois was making use of an income tax similar to the one now | ||||||
18 | employed."; and
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19 | WHEREAS, The paper also states, "To a certain extent, the | ||||||
20 | convention took the income law already in place in 1969 and | ||||||
21 | gave constitutional status to several provisions. This may seem | ||||||
22 | unusual, but in light of the long and heated struggle to bring |
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1 | the state income tax into existence, such a response is | ||||||
2 | understandable. The income tax probably would never have been | ||||||
3 | passed initially if assurances had not been given to the | ||||||
4 | business community on limiting the taxation of corporations, as | ||||||
5 | well as on the use of progressive rates. The 1970 Constitution | ||||||
6 | simply gave more definite legal status to the promises made | ||||||
7 | when the income tax was passed in 1969."; and | ||||||
8 | WHEREAS, The Constitution allows the State to raise and | ||||||
9 | lower tax rates on both individuals and corporations to meet | ||||||
10 | the changing revenue needs of the State; and | ||||||
11 | WHEREAS, An efficient tax system does the least to distort | ||||||
12 | the distribution of resources in the economy and does little to | ||||||
13 | alter consumer or investor attitudes; and | ||||||
14 | WHEREAS, A flat system of taxation does the least to | ||||||
15 | distort the economy; and | ||||||
16 | WHEREAS, Illinois individual income tax payers saw their | ||||||
17 | taxes rise from 3% in 2010 to 5% in 2011 and corporate income | ||||||
18 | tax payers saw their taxes rise from 4.8% to 7%; and
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19 | WHEREAS, The revenue from this increase was promised to be | ||||||
20 | used for the payment of overdue bills owed by the State to | ||||||
21 | persons who had provided a service to the State, but as of June |
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1 | 2013, there exists a backlog of bills in the billions of | ||||||
2 | dollars; and | ||||||
3 | WHEREAS, A system of progressive taxation does nothing to | ||||||
4 | ameliorate the backlog of bills, reduce the structural deficit, | ||||||
5 | or otherwise provide a fix to State finances; and
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6 | WHEREAS, A flat tax system provides some certainty to all | ||||||
7 | taxpayers that they will be treated as fairly as their neighbor | ||||||
8 | when it comes to the shared sacrifice of taxation; therefore, | ||||||
9 | be it
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10 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL | ||||||
11 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that the Illinois | ||||||
12 | Constitution should not be amended to allow for graduated or | ||||||
13 | progressive income taxation; and be it further
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14 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
15 | delivered to all Illinois constitutional officers.
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