Green Party candidate Rich Whitney last week that if elected governor, he would fix the state’s $13 billion budget problem by creating a new tax – a sort of sin tax on the profits of speculative trading – and by pushing a tax increase plan that stalled in the General Assembly last spring.
A financial transactions tax, which the state would levy on securities traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Options Exchange at what Whitney called a “minuscule” rate, “not pennies on the dollar but pennies on the $100,” could potentially bring in enough funds to wipe out Illinois' budget deficit, he said. He added that he would seek only a tax rate high enough to bring in $4.5 billion.
Whitney said he would also call on legislators to pass the same “comprehensive” plan outlined in Senate Bill 750, a tax and education funding reform bill previously sponsored by Sen. James Meeks, a Chicago Democrat. The measure called for an income tax increase of 2 percentage points, an expansion of the sales tax base to include some services but a cut in property taxes. Whitney said the income tax plan could generate more than $7.3 billion. A version of Meeks’ bill passed in the Senate last session but was never called in the House.
Whitney would also like to legalize and tax cannabis, as well as implement a greenhouse gas fee and dividend system under which fees imposed on high pollution energy producers would benefit consumers until more environmentally friendly energy sources become more common and less pricey.
You can read Rachel's full report at: http://illinoisissuesblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/green-party-candidate-outlines-budget.html
In the pic: Whitney
0 comments:
Post a Comment