Election Day timing creates questions about checks, rebates on the way from the state

This editorial represents the consensus opinion of The Daily Herald Editorial Board.

You heard that most of us will soon be getting some free money - or, if you prefer, some of your tax money - from the state of Illinois in the form of small payments, right? Plus, if you own property, the extra property tax rebates that are planned.

We have provided coverage of the tax relief that Gov. J.B. Pritzker first touted in his February budget address, as well as the final package in the budget that passed the General Assembly this month - only after a drawn-out final day of the legislative session that started on a Friday and lasted until dawn the following Saturday. You can be forgiven if you didn't quite follow it all. Or you can be forgiven if you're just not excited about it, or even if you're suspicious of it. But the budget does include a number of enticements for taxpayers. Among them:

• Doubling the property tax rebate to qualifying homeowners, up to $300 per household.

• Direct tax rebates to taxpayers of $50 per individual and $100 per child, up to three children per family, for households with annual incomes below $200,000 per taxpayer.

• Suspending the 1% grocery tax.

• Freezing the inflationary increase in the motor fuel tax.

• A suspension of the state sales tax on back-to-school purchases for a limited period in August.

• Permanently expanding the earned income tax credit to 20% of the federal credit, up from 18%.

After those first two bullet points, the benefits to taxpayers do diminish. Sure, saving 1% on a grocery bill - $1 for every $100 - is better than nothing, especially with that bill rising so much lately. But it's those direct checks and the extra property tax rebate that are most eye-opening.

Yet we aren't exactly seeing a ton of excitement about them among Illinoisans. Skeptics, most notably Republicans, allege this is all an election-year ploy particularly by the governor. Indeed, it's hard not to see it that way. Those checks are coming only a few months or less before the fall Election Day. The grocery tax suspension will expire in a year. The gas tax hike freeze will expire in six months. And freezing taxes on school supplies just for a couple of weeks or so?

Pritzker says this is all possible because he's improved the state's finances. Maybe he has, with the help of such measures as raising fees (if not the income tax). But there also were billions in federal COVID relief funds that helped, as well as better-than-expected state revenue this fiscal year. Besides the tax relief, the Democrats are putting this "extra" money toward the budget's "rainy day fund" and pension debt. Republicans would like at least some of these tax breaks to be permanent, if things are really going so well. That also sounds great, but we don't know if state budget surpluses will continue, especially with federal relief funding ending. And there's plenty of pension debt left to tackle.

So, we'll try to enjoy these tax breaks for a little while. They will help a lot of people struggling in these high-inflation times. But we're keeping a wary eye on what comes after Election Day.