When it comes to the 250 new laws set to take effect in Illinois with the start of the New Year, state House Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva) is more concerned about quality than quantity.
“I don’t think it's the number of laws that matter so much, but the substance of what they represent,” Ugaste told the Kane County Reporter. “If it’s something that’s going to help the state, I have no problem with it – if it’s something that needs to happen.”
Ugaste, however, is quick to add that that is not always what you see coming out of the process in Springfield. He can recall more than a few times where legislation has started off in the right direction, only to end up as something completely unrecognizable.
Illinois state Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva)
“At the start, I was hugely in favor of the capital spending bill just enacted, but in the end wound up feeling like I had to vote against it,” Ugaste said. “I thought we needed it to retain our infrastructure, but by the end I couldn’t justify all the revenue increases it means for most people.”
Ugaste’s take is a simple one for the new laws that will involve new taxes.
“The people of Illinois have already been overtaxed enough,” he said. “And on top of that, we’re not even talking about an efficient government. Almost everything we’re doing can be done better.”
One new law Ugaste will be keeping a particularly close watch on is the tax on Uber and Lyft rides that will more than triple in the downtown Loop area from 72 cents to $3.
“I’m opposed to increased taxes across the board,” Ugaste said. “I don’t know what they will be paying in comparison to the taxes on taxis, and I guess if we have taxes on one part of the industry, the rest should have to pay too. But I’m against the total idea of the higher taxes.”
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