July 4, 2017

To the Honorable Members of

The Illinois Senate,

100th General Assembly:

Today I veto Senate Bill 9 from the 100th General Assembly, which is part of Speaker Michael Madigan’s 32% permanent income tax increase forced upon the hard working people of Illinois.

The package of legislation fails to address Illinois’ fiscal and economic crisis – and in fact, makes it worse in the long run.  It does not balance the budget. It does not make nearly sufficient spending reductions, does not pay down our debt, and holds schools hostage to force a Chicago bailout.

This budget package does not provide property tax relief to struggling families and employers.  It does not provide regulatory relief to businesses to create jobs and grow the economy.  It does not include real term limits on state elected officials to fix our broken political system.

Even with the Madigan permanent 32% income tax increase, this budget remains $2 billion out of balance for fiscal year 2018.  This budget will require even more tax hikes to balance the budget and pay down the bill backlog. This budget puts Illinois on track for major future tax increases and will lead us to become the highest taxed state in America in the coming years.

Moreover, this budget package holds K-12 school funding across Illinois hostage to force a bailout of Chicago Public Schools. Hidden in this budget are terms that withhold school funding unless the school funding formula is rewritten to shift money from suburban and downstate school districts to CPS.

Budgets in Illinois will not be balanced or stay balanced unless our economy grows faster than our government spending. We have been ignoring that truth for 35 years. This budget package includes no changes to create jobs and grow our economy.  It will push more families and businesses out of our state.

Therefore, pursuant to Section 9(b) of Article IV of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby return Senate Bill 6, entitled “AN ACT concerning appropriations”, with the foregoing objections, vetoed in its entirety.

Sincerely,

Bruce Rauner

GOVERNOR