Late last night, while you were probably getting ready for bed, Illinois Democrats dropped the largest spending plan in state history, 3,000+ pages, with little more than 24 hours for review before the deadline tonight. A $55.2 billion budget plan that includes $1 billion in tax increases, which they say is necessary because of the new administration in Washington.
During a late-night committee hearing, House Deputy Minority Leader Ryan Spain called out the Democratic sponsors of this massive spending plan. Spain pointed out that Illinois has been in an uncertain financial position for decades, and the controlling power in the state has been the same for decades. If we could have been a state achieving economic growth like all of our neighbors, then we wouldn’t be facing long-forecasted deficits.