Income tax hike is disguised for now

The state income tax has now been raised. To nobody’s surprise, they waited till after the election. Also not surprising, many of those voting for it were “lame ducks” who are not up for re-election.

But the biggest surprise was the lack of public reaction. Of course the anti-tax pundits spoke up, but they scream when the cigarette tax goes up by a nickel. And I realize that a 2 percent temporary drop in the FICA tax disguised the increase. But what about the corporate response? I didn’t notice firms planning big moves out of state. Sure, Abbott announced it will get rid of 1,000 employees, but did not say they would be moving them to Wisconsin (which would make a lot of them happy).

The economy seems to be growing overall, though you wonder how much faster it would be without the tax increase. Gov. Quinn must be feeling a sense of relief, but (as Cubs fans are fond of saying) wait until next year. The FICA tax reduction will expire and the pain will be felt. Coincidentally it will be an election year. Challengers who promise to roll back the increase will have an easy campaign issue.

Peter VandeMotter

Mundelein