Rock Island Today

During debate on the Senate floor about a budget bill that would provide tax breaks for Illinoisans, Sen. Win Stoller (R-Peoria) said the budget doesn't do enough to make the state financially secure and is instead just 'kicking the can down the road."

"Already billions of dollars in debt, already having higher taxes on our employers, already having employees in that situation having reduced benefits when we enter a recession and have the related spike in unemployment," Stoller said. "Other states that took action are not going to be in that position. They're going to be in a position to take care that their employees who need unemployment benefits in their time of need, but we are shortchanging ours. Kicking the can down the road doesn't solve our problems. Delaying action doesn't solve our problems. In fact, it's these delays that got us in the mess that we are in in the first place and I do not think we should be heading down that path."

On April 9, Senate Bill 157 passed  the Senate with one 'no' vote, and the House unanimously.

Many Republicans are not happy with the bill. "Let's call this budget what it really is — an attempt to buy your vote," Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Lake Zurich) said, WTTW reported. "While some tax relief is better than none at all, Illinoisans deserve real relief instead of bigger government."

Senate Bill 157 creates several tax breaks for taxpayers in the state and is intended to act as a cushion amid inflation. Republicans said that Illinois is simply setting itself up for a potential tax hike down the road, as reported by WTTW.

Senate Bill 157 also created the Manufacturing Illinois Chips for Real Opportunity (MICRO) Act, which was a big selling point for Republican legislators. MICRO will create tax incentives for manufacturers of semiconductors, microchips, or semiconductor or microchip component parts. 

Rep. Tim Butler (R-Peoria) isn't optimistic about the budget.

"(The state) continues to rely upon federal money to have the largest budget in Illinois history. That's what we have here," Butler said, according to WTTW. "And we are very concerned that down the road, next fiscal year and the fiscal years after this, that we're creating all sorts of programs under this budget that now potentially we're going to have to fund in the future when we won't have this federal money coming into the state."