SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – A study has found that a graduated income tax like the one Gov. J.B. Pritzker is touting would narrow a growing income gap among the state’s richest and poorest and deliver $3 billion or more in extra revenue for underfunded schools and infrastructure.
The peer-reviewed exam by the Project for Middle-Class Renewal and the Illinois Economic Policy Institute evaluated eight scenarios based partly on progressive income tax structures among Illinois neighbors. The Associated Press obtained the study in advance of its Monday release.
Authors Robert Bruno and Frank Manzo found that most of the scenarios met public policy goals of taming income disparity, cutting income and property taxes, and generating billions of dollars to cut Illinois deficit, and bolstering education and public brick-and-mortar spending.
