Republican political strategist Chris Robling is convinced Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s unyielding pursuit of a progressive income tax may be about more than just what meets the eye.
“The progressive tax is a bargaining chip to the unions, who run the state,” Robling told Chicago City Wire. “Pritzker’s national ambitions rest on unequivocal union support, so he fills their Springfield orders. Taxpayers don’t matter, not even retired taxpayers, just insiders.”
Several media outlets have reported the governor recently contributed more than $51 million to a ballot initiative committee working to make sure the tax becomes law of the land come November. Vote Yes to Fairness, a committee headed by the governor’s former deputy campaign manager, recently is promoting the conversion of the current flat tax to the progressive tax Pritzker has been pushing since his days as a candidate.
Earlier, Pritzker chipped in another $5 million for the fund, making him the only individual to have donated more than $250 to the cause. Through it all, the governor continues to sell the tax as a hike that will only mean higher rates for the state’s most affluent residents. But Robling isn’t buying it.
“Illinois is doomed,” he added.
Not long ago, when reports surfaced that progressive activists were busy pushing a “LaSalle Street tax,” Robling sounded the alarm on what higher taxes would mean for the state.
“I think that union short-sightedness will kill the goose that’s been laying the golden egg,” he said. “(Chicago) is losing population, the state is losing population, and more taxes in the city will only make it harder for people to stay, and that means it will make it harder for the city to pay all it owes to the unions and over the long run hasten the fiscal demise of the city by effectively reducing revenues and further deepening our fiscal imbalances.”
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