Worried about taxes? Vote for fairness

Readers are being treated to weekly anti-tax, anti-Pritzker letters this year. Look in the mirror if you don’t like your Illinois taxes, because you had a chance to lower them and you didn’t take that opportunity. John Panfil (Bloomingdale, Aug. 14) is the latest misinformed taxpayer to complain.

First up were property taxes. The governor and state legislature have very little to do with your real estate taxes. Take your opposition to your county board, because that is where those taxes go. At least property taxes are progressive, meaning they are based on assessed value of the property.

Next the writer complained about the gas taxes, income taxes, highway tolls, etc. These are all regressive taxes. Rich and poor and everyone in the middle all pay the same tax percentages on what they buy and what they earn. High income earners don’t buy much more gas or pay many more tolls than lower income earners. The dollar amount spent will be a much lower portion of a high earner’s total income. But, because Illinois is one of only eight states with a flat-rate income tax, the richest Illinoisans are not paying a rate commensurate with their incomes.

When the state needs revenue just to keep up with spending on health, education, public safety, etc., the only avenue it has is to raise sales taxes, because raising income tax would hurt lower and middle income earners the most. Voters had the chance to pass a progressive income tax in 2020, supported by Pritzker, with the Fair Tax Amendment. Had it passed, Illinois would have been able to address its structural budget deficit by taxing incomes over $250,000 at a higher rate.

I urge anti-tax, anti-Pritzker letter writers to support a Fair Tax Amendment in the future.

Diane Niesman

Wheaton