State must not take taxes from locals

Leaders of the state of Illinois are deep in debt, and still they do not make any cuts. Instead they look to take away revenue from other units of government. I refer to the Local Government Distributive Fund (LGDF). In 1969, the income tax was set up to be shared with the local governments on a basis of 90 percent for the state and 10 percent for the locals. This was in lieu of local government setting up individual income taxes, which would be a nightmare for the state to collect and distribute.

The state raised the income tax rate from 3 percent to 5 percent for residents and decided they should keep all the additional tax and not give the locals their 10 percent of the increased revenue. This is not in the spirit of the 90 percent/10 percent agreement but it does hold us harmless and keeps sharing 10 percent of the 3 percent income tax.

Local government has already lost over $200 million in income tax due to overall collections being down, meaning our 10 percent is also down.

Villages and counties have been balancing their budget during these tough times. We cannot run deficits. We have made the tough choices on staffing and programs, limited or eliminated raises, postponed capital projects, etc.

State-collected local government revenues belong to local governments and are simply collected by the state on their behalf. These dollars are probably the best return on investment that taxpayers will ever get. This is because these revenues are spent on core services that taxpayers see and use every day.

The state must not reduce these revenues any more than they already have! Local municipalities did not create, nor did they contribute toward the state debt situation. We can’t solve the state’s fiscal problems by destroying local budgets and spreading the fiscal problem even wider. Respectfully Submitted,

Richard H. Hill, Mayor

Round Lake Beach