Rep. Steve Andersson (R-Geneva) and Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) are in the same political party, but when it comes to solving the state's economic problems, they stand apart.
Andersson called an emergency town hall meeting upon his return to the state’s 65th House District after the spring legislative session ended. There, he told to a jam-packed room of concerned constituents that the state’s budget solutions must be addressed by creating the “ultimate pressure" -- including raising taxes.
“I do not want to raise taxes, but I was hired by you to govern,” Andersson said, according to coverage of the town hall meeting by the Kane County Chronicle. "If we do not do something, we will fail as a state in a year.”
Rep. Steve Andersson (R-Geneva)
Batinick doesn't agree.
“We can balance the budget without a tax hike,” Batinick told the Kane County Reporter. “But it takes a whole new way of thinking that I am not sure Springfield is ready to do. From big things to small things, we need to think differently.”
Andersson’s said he supports increasing the income tax rate to nearly 5 percent and the corporate income tax rate to 7 percent.
Senate Democrats have passed a budget with those exact tax increases, but the House has not yet taken up the measure. The plan also includes expanding the state sales tax to a variety of previously untaxed services and products, including home remodeling, tattooing, dry cleaning and storage.
Although he didn't specify, Andersson also said that “other taxes” could be raised to fund the state government’s day-to-day operations and sprawling bureaucracy, according to the newspaper report. In fact, he termed the type of budget that he would support “a real budget, not a fake budget, not a feel-good budget.”
Andersson didn’t return requests for comment by press time.
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