Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, who made $61 million in 2013 – or $29,000 per hour – proposed to eliminate funding for organizations that serve people with disabilities, children with autism, homeless young people, runaway teenagers, immigrants, after school programs, arts and foreign language programs, parent mentoring … you get the idea.
Illinois’ new GOP Governor, Bruce Rauner, will personally receive a $750,000 per year tax cut as a result of his decision not to continue the state’s temporary 1.25% income tax surcharge that expired last year.
His taxes were cut by an amount equal to the annual income of 14 families of four making the median income.
Rauner, who made $61 million in 2013 – or $29,000 per hour – is one of a small group of multi-millionaire speculators who would directly benefit enormously from lower state tax rates. … At the same time he and his friends get that big tax cut, Rauner’s new state budget promises draconian cuts in services that benefit the middle class and the poor.
Rauner proposed six billion dollars in cuts for state spending on universities, health care, local governments and pensions for state employees.
Rauner claims that his proposal is a “turnaround budget.” “Like a family, we must come together to address the reality we face. Families know that every member can’t get everything they want,” he said. Unless, of course, you are Bruce Rauner or one of his mega-wealthy friends.
Seems that the state can’t afford more childcare for working parents, but it can afford huge tax cuts for the very rich. … The fact is, of course, that Illinois – like most other states – are not in the midst of dramatic declines in economic performance that would require this kind of “belt tightening.” In fact, Illinois, like most of America, is wealthier today per person, than at any other time in its history.
The problem is that the wealthy have rigged the economic rules of the game to allow people like Bruce Rauner and the millionaires who got him elected to siphon off most of the wealth for themselves and leave middle income incomes flat.