Dwight Kay fears Democrats mean what they say in terms of enacting a new progressive state income tax.
“I think they are serious about the idea and have wanted to get rid of the flat tax for a while now,” Kay told the Metro East Sun. “It’s been a longstanding goal of the party and (House Speaker Mike) Madigan (D-Chicago). People who have watched Springfield and how it has trended in recent years will tell you this is a time when they really think they can get it done.”
Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker has been pushing the idea of a progressive tax for a while more recently Madigan joined the chorus by introducing a resolution calling for “support of a fair and progressive income tax system.”
Kay, a Glen Carbon Republican running against Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville) in the 112th District, said Democrats are so desperate to gin up more revenue for the cash-strapped state they are willing to overlook all the negative consequences such a tax would have.
“They’ve never once talked about what the supposed brackets would be for this thing,” he said. “They sell it as just a tax on the state’s most wealthy individuals. The fact of the matter is it will drop down to effect and hurt those that are nowhere near that class and are not at all wealthy.”
Kay added such a law will only exacerbate the state’s already out-of-control problem of out-migration.
“We’re rapidly losing people in this state and a progressive tax will only push more of them out,” he said. “Democratic lawmakers in Springfield have already overtaxed, overspent and over-borrowed this state into massive debt – how about now trying to cut some of this spending and instituting the kinds of structural reforms that we need.”
The 112th House District includes parts or all of Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Collinsville and O'Fallon.
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