Kane County Reporter

Illinois state Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington) laments that Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s State of the State address last Wednesday in Springfield struck all the wrong tones.

“Today, the governor talked about his plan to raise your taxes,” McSweeney told the Lake County Gazette. “We need to cut Illinois taxes, not raise them. We need Medicaid reform, we need public employee-pension reform in this state and instead, the governor wants to pass a progressive tax.”

McSweeney points to Democrats' tax-and-spend policies as being at least partly responsible for Illinois’ prolonged economic malaise. And according to recent data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the growth of Illinois' economy has lagged nearly 11 points behind the national average and more than 7 percent behind Midwestern neighbors Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker

McSweeney believes Pritzker’s proposed progressive income tax will create more hardship for Illinois families.

“['Progressive tax'] is a code phrase for 'I want to raise your taxes through the roof,'” he said. “I’m going to fight these tax increases. We need to change this state.”

His anti-tax stance has become a signature of McSweeney’s. The seven-year veteran lawmaker proudly touts his record of having never voted in favor of a tax increase.

He recently launched the website “Cut Illinois Taxes Now,” which bills its mission as “working to bring awareness to the citizens of Illinois about just how much they pay in taxes – property, gas, income and more – and show how those taxes hurt the working families of Illinois.”

McSweeney summed up his view of Pritzker’s agenda in a recent post to Twitter.

“Gov. Pritzker’s agenda is taxes, taxes and more taxes,” he posted.