Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Center for Tax and Budget Accountability Pushes for Multi-Billion Dollar Tax Hike
Here is a pretty comprehensive look at Martire's operation that I put together in late 2003. Illinois Leader used parts of it.
Also helping pull the tax hike bandwagon is the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. The Chicago Sun-Times often gives its executive director, Ralph Martire, columns in its Saturday paper.
Martire, State Senator James Meeks, a man elected as a Democrat who votes with the Democrats and State School Superintendent Robert Schiller met with the board of the Daily Southtown newspaper recently to pitch an income tax hike.
The trio argued that with the Democrats in control of the executive and legislative branches that the time was right for an income tax hike. Quoting Meeks, a Southtown editorial said, "We must give him something to react to."
They pointed to the shortage of state funds for not only education, but also other services and programs. Further, that rich and poor school districts have insufficient revenue. Also, that “the increasing property tax burden has become so onerous that even some of the large business groups that opposed an income tax increase in the past are indicating a willingness to support a change.” Martire made his argument that state finances have to be re-structured because of the existence of a “structural deficit.” By that he means that current taxes and fees are not enough to pay for existing programs, even in good economic times.
Formerly known as the Illinois Tax Accountability Project, Martire’s Center claims to be “a bipartisan think tank committed to ensuring that the Illinois tax system and budget are both fundamentally sound and fair, with a particular focus on the interests of low and moderate income workers.” The Republicans are few and far between, however. Illinois Leader could only identify three board members with Republican connections.
Martire served on the budget advisory board to Governor Rod Blagojevich's transition team, where he acted as chairperson of the state revenue subcommittee. Martire was the principal author of a study that identified tax and fee hikes to address the 2002 budget problems.
His background also includes service as the deputy issues director for Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch in her unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign, and issues director for David Wilhelm in his unsuccessful run for the United States Senate. He ran himself unsuccessfully for the Cook County Board. His prior appointments include serving as a member of both the Cook County State's Attorney's Council on Hate Crimes Prosecution and Cook County Special Task Force on Domestic Violence.
Proposed Multi-Billion Dollar Tax Hikes All “Covered” by Pitch for More Money for Education
Under heading entitled, “Funding Quality Education in Illinois,” [don’t know how to change the color ] is legislative testimony and a position paper outlining the guts of what the group wants.
The group’s tax hiking goals are anything but modest. They want an extra $4 billion for state aid to education. The propose tax increases ranging from $3.5 billion to $7.1 billion.
Belying the name change of the group, only one proposal is made to save money—purchasing pharmaceutical drugs in bulk.
They propose paying for it with either a 33% or a 50% income tax increase for individuals. That would raise $2.5 billion or $3.7 billion. Business would not be ignored. An extra $322-$42 million would be extracted from corporations. Seniors are targeted to pay $140 to $530 million when their pensions are taxed for the first time in Illinois history. Broadening the sales tax to include services, including entertainment, personal and consumer services, could take between $530 million and $2.4 billion out of people’s pockets. Also proposed are tax credits that would be paid in full, regardless of whether individuals paid that much in tax.
Perhaps best indicating the Center’s point of view is the way it refers to tax cuts as “tax expenditures.” “Tax expenditures” are defined as “tax breaks given to private business to promote economic development.” Those who use such language usually assume money belongs to the state, rather than to the taxpayer who earns it, a rather liberal concept.
Graduated Income Tax Sought
First, they want a graduated income tax. They have presented ways to make the state income tax more progressive without passing a constitutional amendment. One example is to provide an income tax credit for the share of real estate taxes that renters pay monthly. Another is increasing the earned income tax credit by four times from 5% of the federal credit to 20%.
They also favor taxing retirement income for the first time in Illinois. By broadening the income tax base, the tax rate would have to be increased less in order to raise the same amount of money. In the pitch for pension taxation, no mention is made of the impact that an exodus of retired people might cause, if the Center got this tax hike wish.
They want to tax services used by wealthier people. Presumably, the internet would taxed. The sales tax would be broadened to include most services. Although, the group says it wants to protect those with lower incomes, the report cites a 1994 Illinois Economic and Fiscal Commission study that estimated an additional $781 million. No deduction is made for whatever exclusions are sought for those at the lower end of the income scale. Putting it mildly, the Center says, “This could have a significant impact on generating revenues for the state.”
Sharing of Taxes from Regional Shopping Centers Sought
The share that local governments now receive of the sales tax would seem to be in danger if the Center could dictate tax policy. “Finally, we should consider revising how the state allocates revenue collected from sales taxes.” It criticizes the current “point-of-sale” way of determining what municipality gets how much and suggests distributing the money based on population. That is the way income tax is now distributed to counties and municipalities.
The group also wants to impose regional real estate taxes to “help promote regional solutions to sprawl.” It proposes property tax sharing of highly taxed properties, such as shopping centers. However, no mention is made of sharing the sales tax generated, which is the primary reason for allowing a regional shopping center in a town.
If the Center got its way, there would apparently be little advantage to having a high sales tax generator in ones city.
For business, the group wants to repeal the single sales tax factor method of calculating corporate income taxes. Repeal is estimated by the group to bring in another $120 million a year. About half would come from “Amoco, Archer Daniels Midland, John Deere, Caterpillar, R.R. Donnelly and Motorola, the group says. Saving this tax break for business was one of the major victories House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) claimed in post-session interviews.
Outline of Tax Swap
Besides increasing the amount going to schools by unspecified billions of dollars, the group wants to cut property taxes by $1.5 to $2 billion. And, the group wants state taxpayers to pay for half of the cost of education. While raising income and sales taxes immediately, the group proposes phasing in property tax cuts “to permit school districts to plan for any changes in the revenue structure.“ In other words, those paying high property taxes would continue doing so during a transitional time, while being forced to pay higher income and sales taxes.
The report also supports equalizing the local tax rates of unit and elementary and high school districts. Currently, tax rate limits on unit school districts are lower than the combination limit on grade and high school districts. That would mean less tax relief in most unit districts than in so-called “dual” districts.
In Cook County, the Center wants to raise taxes on homes and lower them on business. “Since this will cause a shift in tax burden from business to homeowners, it should be phased-in over a period of years,” the recommendation reads. Put in terms a homeowner might be able to understand, one’s property taxes would increase by a little less than a third. The tax sway is touted as cutting one’s tax bill by up to 25%. It appears that Cook County homeowners would not receive much, if any, relief under the Center’s plan.
The Center proposes statewide property tax caps for the first time. Many Downstate county boards have refused to allow referendums on whether tax caps should be imposed.
Democratic Party Liberals Dominate Board of Directors
The members of its Board of Directors help explain why the group is so in favor of tax increases. Take Margaret Blackwshere, for example. She is president of the Illinois AFL-CIO and a former classroom teacher. One of her largest unions is the one that represents state employees. To emphasize the connection, Hank Scheff, the Director of Research and Employee Benefits of the American Federal of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) also serves on the group’s board. Adding to the union-weighting is Carole Travis, the Illinois State Council Director of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The Service Employees International Union was the largest Blagojevich contributor in his run for Governor.
Patrick Patt is the group’s treasurer. He is superintendent of the Oak Grove School District in Green Oaks (60048). His biographical sketch on the organization’s web site says, “Mr. Patt has been active in various statewide tax reform and public school finance reform campaigns. Currently active with Illinois Campaign for Political Reform and Common Cause of Illinois.” He is joined by Williamsfield High School teacher Randy Fritz.
Also serving on the board is one of Illinois Democratic Party U.S. Senator Dick Durbin’s staff assistants. Kappy Lawler Scates is said to have taught English and Spanish for 26 years in Gallitan County. Scales works with her husband and sons in running Illinois' largest family farm and serves on the board of Illinois Agri-Women. Another board member, William Burns, works for Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), although he is still listed on the organization’s web site as vice president of the Chicago Urban League.
Adding to the liberal Democratic weighting of this group is the board membership of State Senator Barack Obama (D-Chicago), who is a candidate for the democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. Fellow Democratic Party office holder Barbara Brown, the Board’s President was recently elected Circuit Court Clerk in Randolph County. She is a lecturer in political science at Southern Illinois University – Carbondale.
Making it clear that this is a Democratic Party front-group is the board membership of David Wilhelm: the man President Bill Clinton selected to head the Democratic National Committee and who previously served as executive director of Citizens for Tax Justice. Wilhelm was often the spokesman for the Blagojevich campaign when Republicans were to be criticized.
Another liberal board member is Willian McNary, President of US Action and Co-Executive Director of Citizen Action/Illinois, the largest consumer watchdog group on health care reform, environmental safety, utility reform, education funding and campaign finance reform. He is joined by Todd Dietterle,
Vice President and Director of the Community Organizing Grant Program at the Woods Fund of Chicago. Dietterle has 20 years of experience in community organizing, issue-oriented citizen lobbies and community development organizations, according to the web site..
Joel Carp, who is Senior Vice President for Community Services and Government Relations of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago is another liberal board member. He has spent his professional career in social work, social planning and advocacy, the group’s publicity says. Balancing him off is Alexander Sharp, Executive Director of Protestants for the Common Good. Formerly served as Vice President for Business and Finance at the University of Chicago and Commissioner of the Department of Public Welfare for the State of Massachusetts.
Token Republicans in Martire’s Group
When Spokesman Martire is introduced on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight hose Phil Ponce refers to the bi-partisan nature of his organization. One of the token Republicans is Paul Wisner, an attorney who served in the administration of Governor Richard Ogilvie (R-Northbrook) as Director of Governor's Office of Human Resources and later as Assistant to the Governor. Wisner contributed $500 to Jim Ryan’s and Joe Birkett’ s campaigns in 2002.
A second is former Daily Herald Reporter Jim Bray, who was targeted for firing by Blagojevich right after he took office. Bray, currently a freelance public relations consultant, formerly served as Chief of Staff to Lieutenant Governor Bob Kustra, and Press Secretary for Governor James R. Thompson. Bran contributed to Bob Kustra in 1994 and Loleta Didrickson in 1996. Former Republican State Rep. Diana Nelson is the third Republican on the Board. She is public relations director for the Union League Club in Chicago. She made 1994 contributions to the House Republican Campaign Committee and State Rep. Eileen Lyons (R-Western Springs).
Dr. Jim Nowlan, who was director of several state departments during the Thompson administration and who was a freshman state representative selected by Governor Ogilvie as his running mate in 1972, is the group’s reserarch director.
Also helping pull the tax hike bandwagon is the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. The Chicago Sun-Times often gives its executive director, Ralph Martire, columns in its Saturday paper.
Martire, State Senator James Meeks, a man elected as a Democrat who votes with the Democrats and State School Superintendent Robert Schiller met with the board of the Daily Southtown newspaper recently to pitch an income tax hike.
The trio argued that with the Democrats in control of the executive and legislative branches that the time was right for an income tax hike. Quoting Meeks, a Southtown editorial said, "We must give him something to react to."
They pointed to the shortage of state funds for not only education, but also other services and programs. Further, that rich and poor school districts have insufficient revenue. Also, that “the increasing property tax burden has become so onerous that even some of the large business groups that opposed an income tax increase in the past are indicating a willingness to support a change.” Martire made his argument that state finances have to be re-structured because of the existence of a “structural deficit.” By that he means that current taxes and fees are not enough to pay for existing programs, even in good economic times.
Formerly known as the Illinois Tax Accountability Project, Martire’s Center claims to be “a bipartisan think tank committed to ensuring that the Illinois tax system and budget are both fundamentally sound and fair, with a particular focus on the interests of low and moderate income workers.” The Republicans are few and far between, however. Illinois Leader could only identify three board members with Republican connections.
Martire served on the budget advisory board to Governor Rod Blagojevich's transition team, where he acted as chairperson of the state revenue subcommittee. Martire was the principal author of a study that identified tax and fee hikes to address the 2002 budget problems.
His background also includes service as the deputy issues director for Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch in her unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign, and issues director for David Wilhelm in his unsuccessful run for the United States Senate. He ran himself unsuccessfully for the Cook County Board. His prior appointments include serving as a member of both the Cook County State's Attorney's Council on Hate Crimes Prosecution and Cook County Special Task Force on Domestic Violence.
Proposed Multi-Billion Dollar Tax Hikes All “Covered” by Pitch for More Money for Education
Under heading entitled, “Funding Quality Education in Illinois,” [don’t know how to change the color ] is legislative testimony and a position paper outlining the guts of what the group wants.
The group’s tax hiking goals are anything but modest. They want an extra $4 billion for state aid to education. The propose tax increases ranging from $3.5 billion to $7.1 billion.
Belying the name change of the group, only one proposal is made to save money—purchasing pharmaceutical drugs in bulk.
They propose paying for it with either a 33% or a 50% income tax increase for individuals. That would raise $2.5 billion or $3.7 billion. Business would not be ignored. An extra $322-$42 million would be extracted from corporations. Seniors are targeted to pay $140 to $530 million when their pensions are taxed for the first time in Illinois history. Broadening the sales tax to include services, including entertainment, personal and consumer services, could take between $530 million and $2.4 billion out of people’s pockets. Also proposed are tax credits that would be paid in full, regardless of whether individuals paid that much in tax.
Perhaps best indicating the Center’s point of view is the way it refers to tax cuts as “tax expenditures.” “Tax expenditures” are defined as “tax breaks given to private business to promote economic development.” Those who use such language usually assume money belongs to the state, rather than to the taxpayer who earns it, a rather liberal concept.
Graduated Income Tax Sought
First, they want a graduated income tax. They have presented ways to make the state income tax more progressive without passing a constitutional amendment. One example is to provide an income tax credit for the share of real estate taxes that renters pay monthly. Another is increasing the earned income tax credit by four times from 5% of the federal credit to 20%.
They also favor taxing retirement income for the first time in Illinois. By broadening the income tax base, the tax rate would have to be increased less in order to raise the same amount of money. In the pitch for pension taxation, no mention is made of the impact that an exodus of retired people might cause, if the Center got this tax hike wish.
They want to tax services used by wealthier people. Presumably, the internet would taxed. The sales tax would be broadened to include most services. Although, the group says it wants to protect those with lower incomes, the report cites a 1994 Illinois Economic and Fiscal Commission study that estimated an additional $781 million. No deduction is made for whatever exclusions are sought for those at the lower end of the income scale. Putting it mildly, the Center says, “This could have a significant impact on generating revenues for the state.”
Sharing of Taxes from Regional Shopping Centers Sought
The share that local governments now receive of the sales tax would seem to be in danger if the Center could dictate tax policy. “Finally, we should consider revising how the state allocates revenue collected from sales taxes.” It criticizes the current “point-of-sale” way of determining what municipality gets how much and suggests distributing the money based on population. That is the way income tax is now distributed to counties and municipalities.
The group also wants to impose regional real estate taxes to “help promote regional solutions to sprawl.” It proposes property tax sharing of highly taxed properties, such as shopping centers. However, no mention is made of sharing the sales tax generated, which is the primary reason for allowing a regional shopping center in a town.
If the Center got its way, there would apparently be little advantage to having a high sales tax generator in ones city.
For business, the group wants to repeal the single sales tax factor method of calculating corporate income taxes. Repeal is estimated by the group to bring in another $120 million a year. About half would come from “Amoco, Archer Daniels Midland, John Deere, Caterpillar, R.R. Donnelly and Motorola, the group says. Saving this tax break for business was one of the major victories House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) claimed in post-session interviews.
Outline of Tax Swap
Besides increasing the amount going to schools by unspecified billions of dollars, the group wants to cut property taxes by $1.5 to $2 billion. And, the group wants state taxpayers to pay for half of the cost of education. While raising income and sales taxes immediately, the group proposes phasing in property tax cuts “to permit school districts to plan for any changes in the revenue structure.“ In other words, those paying high property taxes would continue doing so during a transitional time, while being forced to pay higher income and sales taxes.
The report also supports equalizing the local tax rates of unit and elementary and high school districts. Currently, tax rate limits on unit school districts are lower than the combination limit on grade and high school districts. That would mean less tax relief in most unit districts than in so-called “dual” districts.
In Cook County, the Center wants to raise taxes on homes and lower them on business. “Since this will cause a shift in tax burden from business to homeowners, it should be phased-in over a period of years,” the recommendation reads. Put in terms a homeowner might be able to understand, one’s property taxes would increase by a little less than a third. The tax sway is touted as cutting one’s tax bill by up to 25%. It appears that Cook County homeowners would not receive much, if any, relief under the Center’s plan.
The Center proposes statewide property tax caps for the first time. Many Downstate county boards have refused to allow referendums on whether tax caps should be imposed.
Democratic Party Liberals Dominate Board of Directors
The members of its Board of Directors help explain why the group is so in favor of tax increases. Take Margaret Blackwshere, for example. She is president of the Illinois AFL-CIO and a former classroom teacher. One of her largest unions is the one that represents state employees. To emphasize the connection, Hank Scheff, the Director of Research and Employee Benefits of the American Federal of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) also serves on the group’s board. Adding to the union-weighting is Carole Travis, the Illinois State Council Director of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The Service Employees International Union was the largest Blagojevich contributor in his run for Governor.
Patrick Patt is the group’s treasurer. He is superintendent of the Oak Grove School District in Green Oaks (60048). His biographical sketch on the organization’s web site says, “Mr. Patt has been active in various statewide tax reform and public school finance reform campaigns. Currently active with Illinois Campaign for Political Reform and Common Cause of Illinois.” He is joined by Williamsfield High School teacher Randy Fritz.
Also serving on the board is one of Illinois Democratic Party U.S. Senator Dick Durbin’s staff assistants. Kappy Lawler Scates is said to have taught English and Spanish for 26 years in Gallitan County. Scales works with her husband and sons in running Illinois' largest family farm and serves on the board of Illinois Agri-Women. Another board member, William Burns, works for Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), although he is still listed on the organization’s web site as vice president of the Chicago Urban League.
Adding to the liberal Democratic weighting of this group is the board membership of State Senator Barack Obama (D-Chicago), who is a candidate for the democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. Fellow Democratic Party office holder Barbara Brown, the Board’s President was recently elected Circuit Court Clerk in Randolph County. She is a lecturer in political science at Southern Illinois University – Carbondale.
Making it clear that this is a Democratic Party front-group is the board membership of David Wilhelm: the man President Bill Clinton selected to head the Democratic National Committee and who previously served as executive director of Citizens for Tax Justice. Wilhelm was often the spokesman for the Blagojevich campaign when Republicans were to be criticized.
Another liberal board member is Willian McNary, President of US Action and Co-Executive Director of Citizen Action/Illinois, the largest consumer watchdog group on health care reform, environmental safety, utility reform, education funding and campaign finance reform. He is joined by Todd Dietterle,
Vice President and Director of the Community Organizing Grant Program at the Woods Fund of Chicago. Dietterle has 20 years of experience in community organizing, issue-oriented citizen lobbies and community development organizations, according to the web site..
Joel Carp, who is Senior Vice President for Community Services and Government Relations of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago is another liberal board member. He has spent his professional career in social work, social planning and advocacy, the group’s publicity says. Balancing him off is Alexander Sharp, Executive Director of Protestants for the Common Good. Formerly served as Vice President for Business and Finance at the University of Chicago and Commissioner of the Department of Public Welfare for the State of Massachusetts.
Token Republicans in Martire’s Group
When Spokesman Martire is introduced on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight hose Phil Ponce refers to the bi-partisan nature of his organization. One of the token Republicans is Paul Wisner, an attorney who served in the administration of Governor Richard Ogilvie (R-Northbrook) as Director of Governor's Office of Human Resources and later as Assistant to the Governor. Wisner contributed $500 to Jim Ryan’s and Joe Birkett’ s campaigns in 2002.
A second is former Daily Herald Reporter Jim Bray, who was targeted for firing by Blagojevich right after he took office. Bray, currently a freelance public relations consultant, formerly served as Chief of Staff to Lieutenant Governor Bob Kustra, and Press Secretary for Governor James R. Thompson. Bran contributed to Bob Kustra in 1994 and Loleta Didrickson in 1996. Former Republican State Rep. Diana Nelson is the third Republican on the Board. She is public relations director for the Union League Club in Chicago. She made 1994 contributions to the House Republican Campaign Committee and State Rep. Eileen Lyons (R-Western Springs).
Dr. Jim Nowlan, who was director of several state departments during the Thompson administration and who was a freshman state representative selected by Governor Ogilvie as his running mate in 1972, is the group’s reserarch director.
# posted by Cal Skinner : 6:04 AM
