54th House candidates differ on budget solutions

Aside from supporting potentially eliminating offices such as lieutenant governor and township highway commissioner, there's not much common ground between the two candidates running for the 54th House District seat.

That's especially true when it comes to ideas from Republican Tom Morrison and Democrat Matt Flamm, both political newcomers from Palatine, for getting the state on sounder financial ground.

One key difference is their positions on whether professional services should be subjected to a sales tax.

Despite being an attorney himself, Flamm said an absence of the tax results in a regressive system in which lower-income people pay a higher portion of their income on goods.

"It's silly to tax goods but not services," Flamm said. "If I buy a computer, I have to pay a sales tax. But if I hire a consultant to make it work, there's no tax at all. And it's the higher-income people who use those services."

But Morrison, a disaster cleanup franchise owner who defeated longtime state Rep. Suzie Bassi in the April primary, said the tax would hurt small businesses.

It would also drive up costs so that consumers are forced into do-it-yourself situations, Morrison said, adding as an example that some of his own customers trying to save money would likely end up with mold in their homes for attempting to take care of a flooded basement on their own.

While Morrison staunchly opposes raising the state income tax, Flamm argues it would be irresponsible to take anything off the table right now. An increase could save tremendous amounts of money wasted on interest due the state's low bond rating, Flamm said.

Morrison said reforming the pension and Medicaid systems would have the biggest impact on the state budget.

He proposes returning Medicaid spending and eligibility requirements to 2006 levels, before former Gov. Rod Blagojevich expanded the program to include income levels up to $83,000 a year for a family of four. He said doctors and hospitals realize the state can't pay and many stopped offering services to Medicaid patients.

"Ramping up that eligibility made a functioning system dysfunctional," Morrison said. "With no end in sight, it becomes a runaway budget item."

Meanwhile, Flamm said he favors the $1.1 billion in budget cuts proposed by a group of Democrats including state Rep. Elaine Nekritz of Northbrook, as well as consolidating similar county taxing bodies such as the assessor, clerk, treasurer and recorder of deeds.

Morrison accused Flamm of issuing a false news release this week stating the Republican proposes eliminating municipal revenue sharing, which would reroute money from the local level to the state. Flamm said he based his news release on something he heard Morrison had told a Palatine council member in a phone conversation; Morrison denied saying that in the conversation.