LITERALLY IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT…

1/12/11

So before dawn this morning, the Illinois state legislature and gloating Governor Pat Quinn (no relation) have ramrodded the tax increase made inevitable by years of fiscal irresponsibility (See, inter alia, my 1/7/11 post YOU MEAN ALL THAT STUFF GOVERNMENT DOES TO US ISN’T FREE?!.) down our throats in a lame duck session. The Democrats in the legislature are promising fiscal austerity, protesting that they have learned their lesson and will be tight with the public’s money. This tax increase, they promise, will not give them license to frivolously excrete away the public’s money on the people who support them financially and/or electorally. No sir.

Words are one thing; actions are another. On the very night the tax increase passed, the Chicago Tribune reports:

Sen. Emil Jones III, D-Chicago, said black senators received a promise from Quinn that he would designate $250 million more to education over each of the next four years. The money would be generated by the increased income tax and had originally been designated for property tax relief. The final bill eliminated the property tax relief, freeing up those funds, Jones said.

"A lot of them are my friends and we worked together in campaigns and we believe in working together in important things that help children," Quinn said when reporters caught up to him after the Senate vote. (Emphasis mine)

So Governor Pat “No one dependent on government need make any sacrifice; that is what the chump taxpayers are for” Quinn (no relation) and his bosses in the legislature are already spending on their constituencies the money they are taking from you, provided you remain in this state. And since the money is designated for “education” and will “help children,” count on opposition from suburban Republicans to be token, or disingenuous.

And yet we keep electing these people.