Anyone want to buy a bridge?

Headline in the April 1 (April Fool Day) edition of the Daily Herald suggests "Most of us would pay less." An AP writer who probably doesn't even live in Illinois writes that a graduated income tax "could" narrow income disparity, cut property and income tax bills and deliver billions of dollars in extra annual revenue to combat state deficits and underfunded public schools and infrastructure a study released today shows.

Isn't funny how this article shows up in our papers at the same time Gov. Pritzker launches a bunch of propaganda that "most of us would pay less"?

This peer-reviewed exam was done by the Project for Middle Class Renewal whose director is Professor Robert Bruno and Illinois Economic Policy Institute whose policy director once worked at the Project For Renewal. Both authors say their aim was to present evidence not endorse one approach over another. It seems that is not what they are doing.

I suggest everyone go to their websites and see exactly where their politics lie. I would also suggest that people also go to the website of the Illinois Policy Institute for a different point of view. They should not be confused with the Economic Policy Institute.

The progressive tax as one of the peers of the study, Professor Lonnie Golden, says "It's a forecast so it is subject to uncertainty and lots of errors but their methods and systems seem pretty sound to me." Golden said they are only trying to create a reliable prediction of what would happen. "The rest is up to politics."

If you believe "most of us would pay less," I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I want to sell you.

Richard L. Olhava

Arlington Heights