Chicago City Wire

The General Assembly finally passed a budget after two years, but the Chicago Tribune wishes it hadn't, according to a recent editorial.

"Welcome to the new Illinois," the editorial says. "Same as the old Illinois. Except 32 percent pricier."

The Illinois Republican Party followed the editorial by highlighting some of its points in a recent press release.

The newspaper lays the blame at the feet of the Democrats, who control both houses, saying they passed "a massive tax hike without addressing their addictive spending that is the root of the debt problem, and they did not adopt pro-growth reforms to get Illinois' economy humming.”

The tax increase, which required an override of Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto, is expected to raise $5 billion in new funds by raising the personal state income tax to 4.95 percent from 3.75 percent and the corporate tax rate to 7 percent from 5.25 percent.

"No property tax freeze," the editorial said. "No major downsizing of the state's 7,000 units of government. No votes — that's all Rauner requested — on redistricting reform or term limits to rebuild trust in government."

On July 7, the Tribune reported that House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) said Republicans who joined Democrats in overriding the veto demonstrated the ability to get past partisan barriers to benefit the state's residents.

"The people in this chamber did not do what was easy today," Madigan said, according to the paper. "But we did what was right for the future of our state."