Full Text of HR0135 102nd General Assembly
HR0135 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Under Illinois constitutional law, the individual | 3 | | income tax is levied upon incomes at a flat, non-graduated | 4 | | rate; this flat rate is explicitly specified by subsection (a) | 5 | | of Section 3 of Article IX of the Constitution of Illinois; the | 6 | | Constitution, with its flat-rate income tax language, was | 7 | | ratified by the voters in November 1970; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Given an opportunity to reopen the question in | 9 | | November 2020, the people of Illinois renewed their commitment | 10 | | to a single State individual income tax levied at a flat rate; | 11 | | when presented with a proposed constitutional amendment to | 12 | | strike this language and to grant the politicians of Illinois | 13 | | the right to enact multiple income tax rates to be levied upon | 14 | | multiple levels of income, the proposed amendment was | 15 | | resoundingly defeated; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, As evidenced by the November 2020 voting numbers | 17 | | on the Graduated Income Tax Amendment, with passage requiring | 18 | | either (i) a simple majority of all of those casting ballots in | 19 | | the overall election or (ii) a three-fifths majority of those | 20 | | voting on the constitutional question, the proposed amendment | 21 | | fell far short in both categories, with more than 3.0 million | 22 | | "no" votes cast against the measure; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, The 3,059,411 "no" votes cast against the | 2 | | proposed constitutional amendment were a majority (53.3%) of | 3 | | the votes cast on the question and were also a majority (50.2%) | 4 | | of the total votes cast in the November 2020 election as a | 5 | | whole; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, Enough "no" votes were cast on the proposed | 7 | | constitutional amendment that it fell more than 360,000 votes | 8 | | short of a simple majority and more than 760,000 votes short of | 9 | | a three-fifths majority of those voting on the question; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, The people of Illinois have spoken with dignity | 11 | | and finality on the question of what form the individual | 12 | | income tax should take in Illinois; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, Despite the expressed constitutional command of | 14 | | the people of Illinois, re-expressed as recently as November | 15 | | 2020, some voices continue to speak in favor of reopening this | 16 | | question yet again; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, As on every previous occasion this question has | 18 | | arisen, the abolition of the constitutional flat-rate law and | 19 | | its erasure from the income tax code of Illinois would make it | 20 | | easier for politicians to enact multiple income tax rates upon | 21 | | multiple levels of income earned by the working people of | 22 | | Illinois and to spend this money however they want; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, The people of Illinois do not want a Graduated | 2 | | Income Tax; the negative effects upon the lives of Illinoisans | 3 | | by reopening this issue would far outweigh whatever benefits | 4 | | have been promised to them by those who call for the | 5 | | reconsideration of such a tax; therefore, be it
| 6 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 7 | | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 8 | | we oppose a graduated income tax law in Illinois, whether it is | 9 | | called a "graduated tax", a "progressive tax", a "fair tax", | 10 | | or any other euphemism its supporters wish to use to present it | 11 | | to the voters and engender support; and be it further | 12 | | RESOLVED, That we oppose the reconsideration by the | 13 | | Illinois General Assembly of any constitutional measure | 14 | | intended to yet again reopen the flat-rate income tax language | 15 | | of subsection (a) of Section 3 of Article IX of the | 16 | | Constitution of Illinois; and be it further
| 17 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 18 | | delivered to Governor JB Pritzker, Speaker Chris Welch, and | 19 | | President Don Harmon.
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