Pritzker Standing By Tax Hike Plan
Gov. JB Pritzker talks with reporters Thursday in Springfield. (Photo: Governor’s office)
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After a top House Democrat said last week there was “significant enough” opposition to Governor JB Pritzker’s proposed tax increases in a new state budget, Pritzker doubled down Thursday claiming he’s not planning to make any changes to his budget plan.
Speaking at an unrelated event at a Springfield grade school, Pritzker said he’s sticking with his proposal to raise taxes on sports betting companies, retail merchants, and to reduce the net operating loss deduction for some businesses.
“I don’t think there’s any necessary change that needs to be made,” Pritzker said. “Having said that, I know that there are various members of the General Assembly who have, at times, said ‘well, I wish that we would do this instead of that” and they have their own ideas and they’d like to ratchet up or ratchet down a number that we have in the budget.”
Pritzker admitted there are additional spending pressures and demands from Democratic legislators, but says there isn’t enough money available to make everyone happy.
“Are there demands that are outside of what’s in the budget? Of course, there always are,” he said. “There’s only so much to go around and we’re doing the best that we can to meet the needs of the moment that we’re in.”
While Republicans have argued previous Pritzker budgets have undersold cost expectations to appear balanced, Pritzker says all of his budgets have been, and will remain, balanced.
“The number one principle about my budgets has been, and will always be, it has to be balanced,” he said. “Whatever we end up with at the end of session this time is we’ve gotta balance the budget however that comes out. Whether it’s cuts that are made, revenue enhancements, whatever it is. Here, I think we’re going to end up with a balanced budget. I feel very confident about that.”
