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Taxes on the Ballot: Voters to Decide on Gas, Police, and Millionaire’s Tax

Teachers unions push for tax hike in Illinois

AP
October 29, 2014

Voters across the country will be asked to support or reject a variety of tax-based ballot initiatives.

Up for vote are the income tax rate cap in Georgia, an additional tax for police and firemen in Louisiana, eliminating gas tax indexing in Massachusetts, and the millionaire’s tax in Illinois.

In Tennessee, voters will decide on a "No State Income Tax" Amendment that would ban state and local governments from instituting an income tax. Washington state voters will decide whether to hike taxes on marijuana, while voters in Nevada will decide whether to impose a new 2 percent margin tax on businesses on the ballot measure called "The Education Initiative."

Illinois voters will decide on the millionaire’s tax, which would impose a 3 percent surcharge on salaries over $1 million. The funds raised from the tax would be slated for education.

The official ballot language reads, "Should the Illinois Constitution be amended to require that each school district receive additional revenue, based on their number of students, from an additional 3% tax on income greater than one million dollars?"

A recent survey shows the millionaire’s tax is likely to pass.

The University of Illinois Springfield found a high level of support for raising taxes on millionaires in the state, with nearly two-thirds of likely voters saying they support increasing taxes on individual income of more than $1 million. The survey found 63.1 percent of Illinois likely voters support the referendum.

The highest level of support came from Democrats, female voters, and young voters. More than three-fourths of Democratic voters support the referendum.

Democrats and the teachers’ unions are pushing hard for the millionaire’s tax. Fairness for Working Families—which received its only donation of $250,000 from NEA, according to its campaign filing—has been pushing for millionaire’s to pay "their fair share." The group was formed in August of 2014.

The Illinois NEA also joined in the fight to make millionaires pay more, and its talking points on its website match the FWF’s word for word.

"Politicians in Springfield think they need more money and are unwilling to curb their excessive spending," David From, state director of Americans for Prosperity Illinois, told the Washington Free Beacon.

"The public doesn’t have much of an appetite for continued tax hikes," From explained, pointing to the 67 percent tax hike by Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn a few years ago. Despite that hike, From said, "the state’s still a fiscal mess."

From pointed out that Illinois taxpayers are already burdened with the nation’s second-highest property tax burden, and he also mentioned the state’s high unemployment rate. "Our recovery has lagged the rest of the nation."

AFP Illinois has traveled the state with a Quinn Moving Company truck as part of its Leaving the Land of Lincoln tour, a stunt designed to highlight Quinn’s failed policies that are driving opportunity from the state.

According to From, the millionaire’s tax will have "a lot of impact on small business and job creators—and they are the few who are able to leave."

"I talk to business owners, who are our donors, who are leaving or have left," From said. He has also spoken to others who are contemplating leaving. "They only need one more push to leave for another state, one more thing to push them out."

Illinois could face similar circumstances such as Maryland and New Jersey if its millionaire’s tax passes.

In New Jersey, Democrats also taxed the rich, and a study found many fled the state. The same occurred when Maryland passed its millionaire’s tax. A book entitled "How Money Walks" detailed how high taxes cause millionaires to move to other states.

Published under: 2014 Election