How Dumb Does J.B. Pritzker Think Illinois Voters Are?

In his proposed budget for 2024-25, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is proposing to eliminate the 1% state sales tax on food.  The Governor and the legislature did this before, on a temporary basis, when they were all running for election in 2022.  This time, however, the repeal will be permanent – except.

As is normal with Illinois government, there is always an “except”.  When the state got rid of this tax temporarily in 2022-23, the state made up the revenue that local governments lost because of the suspension.  The state did this because the money from this tax goes to local government.

This time, however, according to the Chicago Tribune, Governor Pritzker isn’t proposing to make up the money local governments won’t get.  Which means that, unless local governments can cut their spending, they’ll have to raise their taxes or fees to make up for the money they won’t be getting from this tax.

In other words, Governor Pritzker is trying to claim credit for cutting taxes when he is really just repealing a tax that goes to another level of government and which, if it is repealed, that other level of government is going to have to replace by raising their other taxes amd/or fees. 

Does he really think the people of Illinois are that dumb?
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UPDATE (2/26/24 7:25 pm): A version of this post was published in the Chicago Tribune’s “Voice of the People” today.  See here (it is the second letter).