VOTE YES TO FAIR TAX AMMENDMENT
By Mary Coen
First off, let me be clear. We must all understand the benefits of
passing the Fair Tax Amendment. We must
know how to respond to false claims made by right-wing organization like the
Illinois Policy Institute. The Fair Tax is the first item on the ballot. We
must vote Yes to pass the Fair Tax Amendment. The fiscal health of Illinois
depends on it!
The inevitability of taxes - it has been pointed out many times
that the dues for living in a society will always be with us. The real
difficulty is trying to design a fair and efficient system in an environment
that is constantly changing. In Illinois we are considering changing our
system: Governor Pritzker has proposed that we amend the state constitution to
allow a "fair tax", a graduated schedule of the tax rate increasing
as incomes go up, as the federal taxes do. The majority of states, 33 to date,
currently use a formula like this. Illinois uses a flat rate for all, from the
lowest income earners to billionaires paying the same percentage. The
theory behind a graduated rate is that the higher income earners have many
times more than the amount of money necessary for sustaining life, thus their
excess income should be taxed at a higher rate. (There are many examples of
conventional wisdom that call for this; the " to whom much has been given,
much will be expected" school of thought).
Very few subjects provoke as much controversy as "how"
and "how much" we tax. And yet very few of us are fluent in "tax
talk". It is very easy to become thoroughly confused by differing
so-called experts who manage to present exactly contradictory expert opinions.
I have to fall back on what I think of as basically most fair to the most
people, and our state constitution as it is does not allow for our system to be
changed to provide for that. So, at the very least I will vote yes to the
amendment for that reason. And I do also believe that a graduated tax is a more
equitable system than a flat rate one. Maybe in a perfectly just society where
all playing fields were equal, a flat rate might suffice, but we certainly do
not have that. A graduated tax system comes closest to "fair".
With the Fair Tax, unless you are a couple making more than
$250,000 per year you will not have a tax raise. People move in and out of
states for various reasons and according to research in census configuration,
those reasons are more complex than just tax rates. Adjustments in all
financial fields are continuously called for, tax rates included. But we first
need to be able to create that graduated tax system. That means voting yes for
the amendment.
There are many articles posted out there authored by the Illinois
Policy organization, well written, and very much against the fair tax proposal.
Be aware that their ideal, as stated in preferred comparisons, is NO state
income tax. Keep in mind what happened to Kansas when it tried that in 2012.
Things to keep in mind: Economics is not simple. Taxes are a
balancing act between real estate, sales and income. Flat rates used in real
estate and sales are not appropriate to income. And even tax hikes do not
always predict a hurting economy: before the 1980's the top income tax bracket
was over 70%, and the economy kept rolling on. "Small
businesses" in economic speak can refer to those that have up to 500
employees, NOT just local Mom-and-Pops. Illinois has a lot of financial mess to
sort out--the least we can do to help is to vote for a fairer tax system.
