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| Lawmaker: No "New" Solutions for School Funding Reform |
With a state senator talking about boycotting schools, and a governor calling a special session this summer over school funding, an Illinois House committee has spent time this fall hearing more of the same: schools don't have enough money.
After the five hearings, State Rep. Mike Smith (D-Canton), chairman of the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, admitted: "I can't say that we heard anything new. We heard a lot of the same things we’ve been hearing. I've been in the General Assembly 14 years."
Smith said the public wants things to change, but actually changing things is much more difficult. The chairman of the Madison County Board, Alan Dunstan, said he believes people would favor a "progressive" income tax. He says living in Missouri, across from his county, sounds better because of the lower property taxes, though that state has double the income tax of Illinois .
Also on the stump for change: Ralph Martire, who runs the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. "We are asking folks in affordable communities to pay more in taxes to fund the education of other children," says Martire. "If you believe in capitalist principles of public finance, then two core elements of a sound tax system are that it’s fair and responsive. Both of those core elements are met if you have a progressive tax system that imposes a slightly greater burden at the top than at the bottom and middle. The folks at the top need to have the highest tax burdens to support the system that gives them the highest return."
From education advocacy group A-Plus Illinois, campaign manager Mary Ellen Guest hits upon a nerve central to many of the issues at the Capitol: "(Taxpayers) do not trust Springfield to deliver on a tax swap model," she says. "They simply don't believe that state leaders would replace property tax revenue with state funds."
(Source: Illinois Radio Network) |
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| 10 12 08 by Newsroom |
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