T.J. Prebil

Throw us a bone, Quinn!

Just three days after being sworn-in as Governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn signed legislation increasing the State’s personal income tax by a whopping 67%. Why? Because, as 60 Minutes reported recently, Illinois is bankrupt.

Clearly the lagging recession and record unemployment hasn’t helped but should the State’s businesses and citizens be asked to shoulder the load alone?

The State could stay in everyone’s good graces if it would extend a few olive branches, such as:

• Taking after California and requiring all State employees turn in their government-owned cell phones.
• Freezing all salary increases for anyone that works for the State for three years, or until the budget is balanced.
• Eliminating union contracts (yeah, right). Ok, how about refusing to do business with entities unwilling to negotiate on benefits, scheduled salary increases and efficiency guarantees.
• Providing incentives for every State department to save money across the board. In fact, for every $100.00 a department saves, why not let the employees split $5.00 to $10.00 in bonuses.
• Stop nickel and diming people in other ways (e.g. bogus convenience fees on State websites, which actually improve efficiencies).

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