Tuition goes up when taxes on high incomes stay down

When we don't tax high incomes at a higher tax rate, we don't collect as much tax money. And when we don't collect as much tax money, the State of Illinois doesn't have it to spend. One of the biggest things we spend money on as a State is education, both K-12 and higher education. And when the State of Illinois doesn't have money to spend on higher education, that means the money has to come from somewhere. So it comes from higher tuition and higher fees.

This article from the Springfield Journal-Register lays it out, and the headline spells it out well:


"Universities latest victimes of state budget crisis"

The answer to Illinois' budget crisis is to raise the income tax on higher incomes. And the best way to do that is with tax brackets like the federal government has, where people pay 6% or 10% of their income earned above $100,000 or $200,000 while everyone pays 3% of their income below $100,000 or $200,000 (and really, 0% of their income up to $20,000 or so, since those people are broke!)

One more reason why Illinois needs tax brackets.

Tax Brackets?

Let's imagine that you graduated with a bachelors degree and manage to find a job. If you're like me, you are worth minimum wage or $4.35-plus-tips. During my first full year in Chicago I made $12,000. When April 14th, 11pm rolled around I realized I owed Illinois some money. How could this be? I was barely making rent, and I was certainly not making credit card payments or turning on the heat.


Well, it turns out that Illinois doesnt have tax brackets. What the crap does that mean? How could something I had never cared about piss me off so much?


If you've experienced a similar problem it's because your friends, the ones making a killing working in an office that has a stocked fridge and a Wii, pay the same state taxes you do. What about the people Down State? The poorest farmers and gas station attendants in Jasper have the same tax rate as the restaurant owners in the Gold Coast. The grandmother running a taqueria in Pilsen pays the same percentage as Oprah.

"Really? That blows," you say. I know, it doesn't seem fair. That's largely due to the fact that IT'S NOT.

So, employed or not, write about it. Let's kvetch, bitch, and share.

We need tax brackets! Join us! Here is some background material for the basics

So a few friends of mine and I decided to start this little blog and website to teach people about how screwed up Illinois' taxes are. The state government taxes lower-income people at a higher percentage of their income than higher-income people. Why?

Because we don't have tax brackets!

That is SO MESSED UP!

So check out www.IllinoisNeedsTaxBrackets.com for a new fun site that Abby Abraham set up.

And this community blog is for dozens of people to post whatever snippets of thoughts they have or reactions to learning about Illinois' lack of tax brackets and, ideally, some fun pictures and videos they can post and tell all their friends and family about. So lots more people learn that, in fact, Illinois. Needs. Tax. Brackets.

Join us! Post a comment and jump in.

Here are some background materials from my other blog:

http://djwinfo.blogspot.com/2009/03/poll-majority-of-100k-income-earners.html
http://djwinfo.blogspot.com/2004/01/report-on-pat-quinns-tax-idea-income.html
http://djwinfo.blogspot.com/2008/04/progressive-constitutional-amendments.html
http://djwinfo.blogspot.com/2008/10/poll-illinois-voters-want-federal-style.html

Check those out! And spread the word!

We can fix this and get tax brackets! We just need to pass a constitutional amendment to Illinois' constitution. There already is going to be a constitutional amendment on the ballot this November about recalling the governor. So this would be the second one. No big deal, right?

To get a constitutional amendment on the ballot in Illinois, the Illinois House and Senate have to vote for it. Well, that just means you and I need to tell our Senators and Representatives that we want them to vote to put it on the ballot. Our deadline is early May, 2010. And there's already a bill filed.

It's SJRCA38 and you can read it here:

So we can do this....IF people learn that Illinois doesn't have tax brackets AND we tell more and more people that, in fact, Illinois Needs Tax Brackets (dot com).

What do you think? Who can you tell? Spread the word!