illinois pension reform constitutional amendment

The proposed amendment would give the Legislature unlimited new authority to increase income tax rates on any group of taxpayers at will, including low-income and middle-income families and small business owners. Judicial Selection | This amendment does not tax retirement income. Total vote, 3,047,822. 1974 - Governor's Amendatory Veto. Comparison of state income tax structures, legislatively referred constitutional amendment, Campaign finance requirements for Illinois ballot measures, University of Illinois Springfield Survey Research Office, Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University, Illinois gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2018, Illinois Allow for Graduated Income Tax Amendment, Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States, Click here for the Illinois State Board of Elections voting information page to ensure you have the most current information, Illinois Proposed Constitutional Amendment Guide, Vote No on Blank Check Amendment on Facebook, Vote No on Blank Check Amendment on Twitter, State and local government budgets, spending and finance‎, Petition drive deadlines and requirements, Changes in 2020 to laws governing the initiative process, https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Illinois_Allow_for_Graduated_Income_Tax_Amendment_(2020)&oldid=8232172, Referred amendment certified for the 2020 ballot, Tracking election The state’s regular upward revisions demonstrate Moody’s method, which is more in line with private sector standards, is more accurate. [13], The following were the top five donors to the opposition committees.[13]. List (surname) Liszt (surname) Places. House of Representatives | | Pension fix: Change the Illinois Constitution. Ballotpedia features 321,271 encyclopedic articles written and curated by our professional staff of editors, writers, and researchers. font-weight:bold; The remaining 32 states had graduated tax structures, with various numbers of brackets and ranges. Moody’s Analytics, a sister company to the ratings agency, underscored this point in a recent analysis for the state. Ballot measure laws | Redistricting, List of Illinois ballot measures | This change will generate additional revenue each year that can help address Illinois' budget deficit and fund critical programs, including the State's education system, public safety, and social services like mental health and substance abuse treatment and domestic violence shelters. Limitations on Income Taxation. And the Legislature has increased Illinois income tax rates twice in the past decade to try to deal with the out-of-control spending in Springfield. The forecast anticipates that the state will grow a step behind the Midwest average and a few steps behind the nation over the extended forecast horizon. The New Deal often encountered heavy criticism, and had many constitutional challenges.. Roosevelt was wary of the Supreme Court early in his first term, and his administration was slow to bring constitutional challenges of New Deal legislation before the court. -webkit-columns: 2; He said a graduated income tax would be a nightmare for Illinois. Under Illinois SB 687, the proposed tax rates would range from 4.75% to 7.99%. Checklist; Electoral list, a grouping of candidates The only viable solution to Illinois’ pension crisis starts with a constitutional amendment to allow for reductions in future benefit growth for current workers and retirees. Illinois automatically registers eligible individuals to vote through the Department of Motor Vehicles and other designated automatic voter registration agencies. J.B. Pritzker (D) contributed 93 percent of the PACs' total combined funds. .arguments-bm-widget li { .split-cols-bm { That translates into about 57,000 fewer jobs than if Illinois kept up with its Midwest peers, and about 120,000 fewer jobs than were it to keep pace with the nation. Nearby states including Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin are among the majority of states that have graduated tax systems. Sequence, an ordered list of elements, especially one of infinite length; Tuple, an ordered list of finite length; Multiset, a list/set of elements which can have multiplicity different than 1; Enumerations. } Democrats controlled 74 seats in the state House, and Republicans controlled 44 seats. Public education | This is money that middle and lower income people need for housing, groceries, medicine, and essentials. Compared to 2019 tax rates, Illinois would have had the sixth-highest top-bracket rate. The pass a constitutional amendment 36 votes were needed in the Senate and 71 votes in the House. If this amendment passes, the State will have the ability to tax higher income earners at a different rate. Illinois law requires 30 days of residency in the state before a person may vote. At any one time there may be no more than one such tax imposed by the State for State purposes on individuals and one such tax so imposed on corporations. AMENDMENTS AND CONVENTIONS PROPOSED. Voters deserve the opportunity to choose this path forward, and legislators in the state General Assembly can pass the amendment to get it onto the ballot without the governor’s approval. For too long, lawmakers have talked but failed to act on ways of reducing costs that contribute to an unfunded liability that exceeds $130 billion. Rauner added, "I want to roll the income tax rate back down to 3 percent over the next four or five years."[23][24][25]. Of these 43 states, 11 had a flat income tax rate. Pritzker should add a constitutional amendment to change the state’s pension clause — the one that has stood in the way of pension reform for decades now. In the state Senate, Democrats won 40 seats, an increase from 37 seats. Everyone who makes $250,000 or less a year would pay the same or less. Immigration | This Amendment Would Make Illinois' Tax System Fair. The Illinois Supreme Court struck down the reform in toto but acknowledged that prospective pension reform would not be unconstitutional. This would mean fewer jobs and less opportunity for Illinois families. The following is the argument in opposition to the constitutional amendment that appeared in the official voter pamphlet:[6]. The Illinois House of Representatives passed the final version of SB 687 on May 30, 2019, in a vote of 67-48. It would simply give the Legislature a blank check to spend billions of dollars however they want, with no accountability. Despite the challenges facing the state of Illinois, in 2016 officials in New Jersey, which has the most chronically underfunded pension system in the country, considered a constitutional amendment similar to Illinois’s, but with a twist. -moz-columns: 1; } Illinois does not require proof of citizenship for voter registration. .ballot-measure-endorsements ul { Click Show to read details about the tax-related measures on statewide ballots in 2020. House Bill 1369, which passed the House by a 65-31 vote and now heads to … That’s because the Legislature has continued to increase state spending instead of eliminating government waste, corruption, and abuse. Failed. You are asked to decide whether the proposed amendment should become a part of the Illinois Constitution. Valid forms of identification differ by state. Growth in annual taxpayer contributions exceeded state estimates by about 15% per year on average, causing taxpayers to contribute $7.6 billion more than projected during the decade. If the Amendment passes, it would be the last straw for thousands of small businesses, causing more jobs to leave the state, and making Illinois lose out on investments to rebuild our economy. Ballotpedia identified the following media editorial boards as taking positions on the ballot measure. Pritzker should add a constitutional amendment to change the state’s pension clause — the one that has stood in the way of pension reform for decades now… “The Illinois Constitution’s best-known codicil is the one that declares pensions are a contract that can never be ‘diminished or impaired.’ SB 687 would have changed the state's income tax from a flat rate to six graduated rates beginning on January 1, 2021. 2) Taxes and spending are out of control. Nor does it require funds to be spent on essential needs such as healthcare, education, or public safety. People. margin-bottom: 5px !important; One that upholds the Bill of Rights - The Indiana House voted Monday to eliminate the license to carry a handgun in the state -- an apparent victory, at least temporary, for supporters of Second Amendment gun rights. Circuit Courts, Budget and finances | It gives the State the ability to impose higher tax rates on those with higher income levels and lower income tax rates on those with middle or lower income levels. Taxes. The word count for the ballot title is 121, and the estimated reading time is 32 seconds. Ballot access for candidates | columns: 1; HJRCA 49 proposes to amend the Illinois Constitution by adding Section 5.1 to Article XIII. The Pension Reform Bill was aimed at unloading a … Bruce Rauner said he would wait to implement any of his own pension changes until the state Supreme Court ruled on the state’s 2013 overhaul. On May 1, 2019, the state Senate passed SJR 1, with support from 40 state senators. Recognizing the financial distress caused by ever increasing pension costs as well as escalating underfunded liabilities, public safety workers, state legislators and local government employers built a consensus for needed constructive reform passing legislation and a constitutional amendment to adopt the needed reforms. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday that a constitutional amendment voters will decide next year will help save the state’s finances. On Feb. 24, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch suggested another attempt at amending the state constitution to implement a progressive income tax, this time earmarked to pay for pensions. For personal income earned in 2018, the income tax was a flat rate of 4.95 percent. 1) The Amendment gives the Legislature power to increase taxes on any group of taxpayers with no limits and no accountability and without any requirement to use the additional revenue to fund essential needs such as healthcare, education, or public safety. Generous pension benefits allow many government workers in the five state systems to retire in their 50’s with multi-million dollar pensions, after having contributed only about 4-6% of expected payouts. A constitutional amendment to the state pension clause — a necessary first step to unlock any reforms — has majority support, according to … Environment | The state with the highest top-bracket rate—and the largest difference between the bottom and top rates—is California, where the bottom rate is 1.00% and the top rate is 13.30%. Basically, the measure would require that all new pension sweeteners be passed by a three-fifths majority vote in the Illinois General Assembly. Under Illinois' "flat tax" structure, a nurse making $50,000 per year pays the same tax rate as an executive making $4 million per year. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}(); Because the state systemically underestimates its pension debt, it also underestimates the taxpayer contributions necessary to keep the debt from growing each year. columns: 2; [7]. 2021 legislative session | The COVID-19 pandemic caused layoffs, unemployment, bankruptcies, and closures. The new pension reform, S.B. border: 1px solid black; Approval of this amendment would enact a fair system that allows the state to tax wealthy people at higher rates and lower income people at lower rates, replacing Illinois' current unfair tax system, in which wealthy people pay the exact same tax rate as lower and middle income people. There were at least two 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations that spent funds to advertise for or against the constitutional amendment while legislators were considering the measure. Over 95% of small businesses earn $250,000 or less a year in profits, and their owners will not see a tax increase under the new tax structure. font-size:1.0em; UPDATE : On February 22, 2021, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed House Bill 3653 Senate Amendment 2 into law as Public Act 101-0652 – dubbed the SAFE-T Act (Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity – Today). Illinois’ pension debt reached an all-time high of $317 billion as of June 30, 2020, according to credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service – more than double the state’s official estimate. General rules apply to both civil and criminal proceedings. But paying down Illinois pension debt with a progressive income tax would require rates to be 21% higher on all taxpayers compared to the rates attached to the “fair tax” voters rejected in November 2020. [13], The following table includes contribution and expenditure totals for the committees in opposition to the initiative. }, The following table includes contribution and expenditure totals for the committees in support of the initiative. The Illinois Policy Institute previously estimated it would require a 50% increase in the state’s flat income tax – taking over $1,800 from a median family’s income – to eliminate the debt without reform. He said, "the bottom 20 percent are paying roughly 13 to 13.5 percent of their income in state taxes. The following table illustrates the graduated rate under SB 687 for single and joint filers:[21], As of 2019, 43 states levied a tax on personal income. State Senate | The amendment would remove the portion of the Revenue Article of the Illinois Constitution that is sometimes referred to as the "flat tax," that requires all taxes on income to be at the same rate. Federal courts | How would Illinois have compared to other states? He also dismissed any proposal to reduce the state's pension costs through a constitutional amendment to remove the state's pension protection clause. Congressional delegation | Illinois is among a minority of states that do not utilize graduated tax rates because the Illinois Constitution requires a "flat tax" that penalizes middle-class and working people and benefits higher income individuals. School districts in Illinois | PENSION REFORM UPDATE . The constitutional amendment was introduced into the state legislature as Senate Joint Resolution 1 … Bring pension reform to Illinois. [9] John Bouman, president of the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, was the chairperson of Vote Yes for Fair Tax. Pritzker contributed $58.0 million to the campaign. starts here. font-weight:bold; The Illinois Supreme Court has struck down the state's landmark 2013 pension reform law, upholding a lower court ruling that it violated the state constitution. Court of Appeals | As of 2019, 43 states levied a tax on personal income. Illinois’ pension liabilities, long underfunded by state lawmakers as a way to balance their books in lieu of spending restraint, are going to come out on the other side of the pandemic with more unfunded debt than ever. Section 3. During the past decade, officially-reported growth in pension debt outpaced the state’s initial projections by $24 billion. }, .arguments-bm-widget { The following list of accepted ID was current as of November 2019. The current system forces policymakers to charge the same tax rate to everyone, regardless of how much money they make. ... a constitutional amendment to the Illinois Constitution that would strike the pension clause. List auf Sylt, the northernmost village in Germany, on the island of Sylt; Mathematics. Currently, it is unfair that billionaires pay the same tax rate as regular people. In 2020, voters in 14 states voted on 21 ballot measures addressing tax-related policies. Gov. Chicago Office | Illinois Policy Pritzker campaigned on enacting a graduated income tax, including a constitutional amendment. [8] Quentin Fulks, a former campaign staffer for Gov. The General Assembly cannot often get a majority vote on controversial issues, and a three-fifths vote requirement would make it that much more difficult. CHICAGO (CBS) — Chances for Gov. .sbtotalheader { Illinois allows same-day voter registration. Having wealthy people pay more would reduce the burden on working families. Nothing in the amendment requires the Legislature to do anything to control spending. Who was behind the campaigns surrounding the ballot measure? Campaign finance requirements | Ballot access for parties | Conclusion: The pension reform already enacted for new hires is seriously flawed, and Constitutional Amendment 49 will make it extremely difficult—if not impossible—to repair the damage. Illinois needs a constitutional amendment allowing it to attack its pension monster, not more food for the beast. SB 687 would not go into effect unless voters approve SJR 1 on November 3, 2020. There would be no limit on the number of tax brackets that could be created and no limit on how high tax rates could be increased on individual taxpayers. New Hampshire and Tennessee taxed personal income derived from interest and dividends but not wages and salaries.[22]. Why not let voters rewrite the pension clause too? [2], Vote Yes For Fairness led the campaign in support of the constitutional amendment. Votes occurred along partisan lines. Executive Chair of the The Duchossois Group, Inc. Muneer Satter - While some states have fair tax rates in which the highest income earners pay the highest tax rate, Illinois' "flat tax" rate continues to rely unfairly on taxes from middle and lower income earners. Because of the way our current tax system is set up, the bottom fifth of Illinois taxpayers (those making below $21,800) contribute 14.4% of their income to state and local taxes, compared to 7.4% for the top 1 percent of Illinois taxpayers. Former President of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, Jay Bergman - A proposed amendment becomes effective if approved by either three-fifths of those voting on the question or a majority of those voting in the election. [45] In 2019, Democrats held supermajorities in the Senate (68 percent of seats) and House (63 percent of seats). From 2016 to 2018, Democrats held majorities in the House and Senate but not enough seats to pass a constitutional amendment along partisan lines. “Weak demographic trends and deep-rooted fiscal problems such as mounting pension obligations and a shrinking tax base represent the biggest hurdles to the longer-term outlook.

   .sbtotaltable { Doing so will require a state Constitutional Amendment. -webkit-columns: 1; For example, the largest of Illinois’ five state pension systems, the Teachers’ Retirement System, reported a 0.52% return on investment in fiscal year 2020, which included the first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Illinois already has some of the highest property taxes and sales taxes in the nation. The amendment does not itself change tax rates.    width: 50%; JB Pritzker’s signature plan to switch Illinois to a graduated income tax appear dim, as most voters have rejected the proposed constitutional amendment… In any such tax imposed upon corporations the highest rate shall not exceed the highest rate imposed on individuals by more than a ratio of 8 to 5. [48], Regular registration closes during the period beginning 27 days prior to an election and ending two days after the election. Illinois has implemented an online voter registration system. .ballot-measure-endorsements td { width: 35% !important;} There’s no such chemistry at work in Illinois, yet the constitutional change in Arizona has been seen by some as a potentially hopeful route for Illinois to whittle an unfunded liability for five state-administered pension funds that currently sits at $134 billion. [10][11], Vote Yes for Fair Tax provides a list of endorsements, which is available here. Healthcare | The Illinois Allow for Graduated Income Tax Amendment was on the ballot in Illinois as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");if(t)(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}})}(); J.B. Pritzker (D) won the gubernatorial election on November 6, 2018, defeating incumbent Gov. Illinois voters will decide in less than two weeks the future of a proposed amendment to the state constition regarding the threshold needed to pass pension increases.        color:white !important; Gov. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote. 			t 217.528.8800  f 312.212.5277							 e info@illinoispolicy.org, Copyright © 2021 Illinois Policy | Illinois' comeback story starts here, Moody’s report: Illinois pension debt reaches record-high $317 billion, House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 38. assistant in Illinois’ 1970 Constitutional Convention, suggested that the legislature’s next move would be to propose an amendment that would delete the pension protection provision from the Constitution in its entirety.           comeback As small businesses and local employers struggle to rebuild, this is the worst possible time to impose huge new tax increases. This amendment is simply upgrading Illinois' old tax system to a graduated system which is how the federal government and the majority of other states do it. When the wealthiest people pay more, middle and lower income earners can pay less while the State funds critical services that our essential workers rely on.[7]. SUPREME COURT. Supreme Court | Vote Yes For Fairness led the campaign in support of the constitutional amendment. What would the ballot measure have changed about the state income tax? Julie Sampson, the political director of Citizen Action Illinois, was the treasurer of Vote Yes for Fair Tax. State constitution, Courts in Illinois | Energy | @media screen and (max-width: 792px) { J.B. Pritzker (D) signed Senate Bill 687 (SB 687), which was designed to enact a graduated income tax, on June 5, 2019. Senior Director of Budget and Tax Research. In Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Virginia, voters also decided eight ballot measures related to exemptions, adjustments, and payments: Florida Amendment 5, Florida Amendment 6, Referendum A, Louisiana Amendment 2, Louisiana Amendment 5, Louisiana Amendment 6, New Jersey Question 2, and Virginia Question 2. Online registration closes 16 days prior to an election. Tax hikes cannot solve Illinois’ pension crisis, which has never been a problem of underspending. } If the Constitution is amended then pension reform would be “Constitutional” by definition. Illinois does not require voters to present identification while voting, in most cases. In the state House, Democrats won 74 seats, an increase from 67 seats.    .sbtotaltotal { [20], Gov. .split-cols-bm { The Legislature should not be allowed to keep raising taxes until they get their spending under control. Former House Speaker Michael Madigan, after 50 years as a member of the Illinois House and a contributor into one of the state’s five pension funds, the … It was a fairly close vote in both the House and the Senate but ultimately Speaker Madigan was able to pass this Pension Theft Legislation thru. The Illinois Supreme Court struck down a pension law that was created in 2013, finding it unconstitutional. Insisting that "no silver bullet" exists to slay Illinois' staggering public pension problems, Gov. If passed, an amendment mirroring the expired HJRCA 38 would open the door for reforms such as the Illinois Policy Institute’s “hold harmless” pension reform plan, which would save the … If this Amendment passes, the State has already enacted a new graduated tax structure where 97% of taxpayers will pay the same or less. margin-top: 10px !important; The Legislature should not be allowed to keep raising taxes until they get their spending under control. A total of 20 states required voters to present photo identification at the polls; the remainder accepted other forms of identification.    } Gov. In Illinois, income is taxed at a flat rate of 4.95%. Applicability .    } Rauner opposed Pritzker's proposal and instead campaigned on decreasing the rate of the state's flat income tax. Voting in Illinois | [3], Vote Yes for Fair Tax also organized as a political action committee to support the constitutional amendment. width: 100%; While a constitutional amendment is an obvious approach to circumventing the obstacles to pension reform created by the    .sbtotaltable td { In Illinois, a 60 percent vote is needed in each chamber of the Illinois General Assembly to refer a constitutional amendment to the ballot for voter consideration. Pension reform that finally solves Illinois’ worst-in-the-nation crisis would benefit all Illinoisans by ensuring the state has as many good-paying jobs as possible for working families. The Land of Lincoln has the worst-funded pension system in the nation and desperately needs to reduce its liabilities. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, our state had a huge and growing multi-billion-dollar budget deficit, and the unfunded pension liability skyrocketed to over $137 billion. Click here to contact us for media inquiries, and please donate here to support our continued expansion. 			190 South LaSalle Street | 1500 | Chicago, IL 60603 [13], The Vote No On The Blank Check Amendment, Coalition To Stop The Proposed Tax Hike, Chambers Against Progressive Income Tax, and Vote No on the Progressive Tax PACs were registered to oppose the constitutional amendment. The best way out of the state’s corner is to pass real pension reform and a program for economic growth to make the measures less biting. Illinois’ pension crisis has been rated the worst in the nation, measured by pension debt relative to state gross domestic product, since fiscal year 2014. 

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