A Press Statement from the Office of State Representative Amy Grant
Rep. Amy Grant
February 20, 2019
SPRINGFIELD— Governor JB Pritzker
revealed his first budget proposal in front of the General Assembly.
A joint session was called for in Springfield on Thursday to deliver the
address.
“Phony budgeting techniques and false platitudes are bad for
our future generations. I wanted to see an outline for a balanced budget.
Almost every year Illinois refuses to balance its budget. The techniques
presented today are the same techniques of 2002 when Rod Blagojevich was in the
same position. The similarities of JB Pritzker and Rod Blagojevich in
solving the Illinois Budget Puzzle are frightening. The first example of this
is Pritzker’s pension plan relies on more borrowing, pension holidays and extending
the timeline for funding the pension debt. Governor Pritzker never mentioned
the 8 billion backlogged in unpaid bills and offered no solution for property
tax relief. The citizens of Illinois should not accept this as a solution.
Ultimately, the pension debt continues to be our main financial woe. The
governor refused to initiate any reform to relieve the long-term budgetary
stress on the state budget, for some reason.”
“Families in my district want a property tax freeze.
Property taxes are out of control and are a direct correlation to why people
are leaving. Property tax relief has to be discussed and I would like to
see the state’s chief leader address this issue instead of being silent.
The citizens I represent talk to me frequently that they are tired of the tax,
borrow, and spend policies that put us in this hole.”
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