A state senator wants Illinois to do some longer-term planning: to budget two years at a time.
A biennial budget would require a change to the Constitution – thus, a public vote. State Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) says the state has just squandered an opportunity.
“When they passed the 67 percent tax increase (the state income tax; from three percent to five percent) back in 2011,” says Barickman, “I wish then they would have painted the longer-term picture about how they were going to pay down our bills and let that tax increase roll back (to 3.75 percent) which, as you remember, is what they promised to do.” Without action otherwise, the flat income tax will revert to 3.75 percent after Dec. 31, halfway through the upcoming fiscal year.
If this comes to pass, it would make Illinois the twentieth state with a biennial budget.