General Assembly Back in Session

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Published on November 7 2017 4:29 pm
Last Updated on November 7 2017 4:29 pm

BY JIM TAYLOR

Illinois state lawmakers return to Springfield this week for the final round of the fall veto session.

They will convene for three days – Tuesday through Thursday. Lawmakers were previously in session Oct. 24-26. 

“Despite the fact that we have a budget in place and there’s great relief over that, there are serious questions on did that actually solve the problem,” said Jak Tichenor, the interim director at Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University.

Debate also continues over whether last summer’s tax increases helped the state's financial condition. 

The personal income tax rate increased from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent and the corporate income tax rate jumped from 5.25 percent to 7 percent. Both hikes took effect July 1, the first day of the fiscal year.

“The governor’s office of management thinks that we may be off by a $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion in terms of revenue shortfall for the current fiscal year despite the tax increase,” Tichenor said. “The Democrats who worked on the budget think it’s a lot less than that, but there are some questions about whether or not we’re actually going to make it through the rest of the fiscal year.”

Meanwhile, the state continues to face a backlog of unpaid bills to state vendors. That number now stands at more than $16.5 billion. Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza keeps a daily tote board at illinoiscomptroller.gov.