Full Text of SR0383 98th General Assembly
SR0383 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | SR0383 | | LRB098 12440 HLH 46837 r |
|
| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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 |
| | | SR0383 | - 2 - | LRB098 12440 HLH 46837 r |
|
| 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
| 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 |
| | | SR0383 | - 3 - | LRB098 12440 HLH 46837 r |
|
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 14 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 15 | | delivered to all Illinois constitutional officers.
|
|