Members react to the Governor's budget address

“We’ve seen three separate tax hike proposals in the last three days. It is clear that Illinois democrats are preparing to raise taxes again, and the Governor seems unwilling to accept the reality that Illinois has a spending problem, not a revenue problem." ~Rep. Mike Tryon



“Governor Quinn proved to the General Assembly and to the citizens of this State today that his promises mean nothing. With his announcement that he is pushing to make the temporary tax increase of 2011 permanent, he has shown us all that anything he says can’t be trusted. He is on record in 2011 as saying the income tax increase was temporary, but now he wants to take more and more out of the pockets of working Illinoisans and small businesses." ~Rep. Barb Wheeler 


"This no-longer-temporary income tax hike has already triggered employers and families to leave Illinois for greener pastures at alarming rates. Nearly 278,000 Illinoisans left the state in 2012, placing Illinois second highest in the nation for outward migration.” ~Rep. Joe Sosnowski

“At a time when 570,000 Illinoisans are unemployed and unable to find work to support their families, our top priority needs to be creating jobs and improving our business climate. Instead, Governor Quinn told us today that his plan for improving Illinois is to dig even deeper into the pockets of working Illinoisans so he can increase spending next year. ~Rep. Tom Morrison



“Pat Quinn uses school children every time he wants a tax increase- saying it’s for education. Meanwhile, he has failed to meaningfully address the inequities in school funding over his past four years in office. He hasn’t even committed to try to fix this. It’s so disappointing.” ~Rep. Mike Unes

 “The governor always paints an appealing picture of long-term prosperity, but the reality is that he is proposing policies designed to divide us politically that do nothing to lower our unemployment rate and create good jobs” ~Rep. Kay Hatcher

“Our top priority must be creating good jobs for our families, but today Governor Quinn doubled down on failed policies that have resulted in the highest jobless rate in the Midwest, and residents fleeing our state – nearly 278,000 in one year” ~Rep. Dan Brady

“The Democrats’ ‘temporary’ tax increase failed. It failed to curb out-of-control spending. It failed to pay off our bill backlog. It failed to get our economy back on track. Instead of recognizing and correcting their failures, Illinois Democrats have proposed three different tax hikes in the past few days. They just don’t get it,” ~Rep. Bill Mitchell

“Statistics show Illinois continues to lose jobs as a result of the 67% income tax hike approved the day before I first took office in 2011. Illinois needs more jobs which will generate revenue for Illinois, not more taxes. ~Rep. Dwight Kay

“The Quinn administration is closing the state employment services office in Danville, where we have one of the highest unemployment rates in the state. He has single-handedly blocked a gaming plan that would create thousands of good-paying jobs for our families, and today, he reneged on his promise about the so-called “temporary” income tax increase - now saying the record 67% tax hike should be made permanent." ~Rep. Chad Hays