Governor Pat Quinn's state budget address Wednesday could be the most crucial of his political career.
His pitch to lawmakers comes as Illinois grapples with a major financial dilemma: Whether to extend a temporary income tax increase. And Quinn is facing a serious re-election challenge from Republican venture capitalist Bruce Rauner, who already refers to Quinn as ``the worst governor in America.''
It's the first major fiscal issue since Rauner won the GOP nod. Quinn is expected to reveal plans for when the tax sunsets and leaves a roughly $1.6 billion revenue hole, making deep cuts likely. The speech in Springfield on Wednesday will also be his opportunity to deliver a message to critical groups, like unions, that've been displeased with him and that he'll need come November.
With an election ahead in November,there has been some talk of abandoning an annual budget this year, and instead adopting one that's only good for six months.Illinois' 5% income tax rate will decline in January - halfway through the next fiscal year. That's after the November elections, making budgeting especially difficult.
Hence this theory, described by Rep. Ed Sullivan, a Republican from Mundelein: "And so by doing a six-month budget you push all the hard decisions on whether to vote to retain the tax increase, or vote to make some pretty heavy cuts to make up for the shortfall, you push it beyond the election and it's much easier then to have that decision, potentially with people that are leaving the General Assembly. And then, quite frankly, it could be a Republican governor. And if you're in the majority party why not put the whole onus on the Republican governor?"
Sullivan says it's a cop-out, and going that route would be irresponsible.
You can hear live coverage of Governor Quinn's budget message on Wednesday beginning at 12:00pm on WSIU Radio and WSIU TV.
