CHICAGO – Republican Governor Bruce Rauner says Trump's tax plan is "punishing."
While the rest of the nation is excited about the amount federal income tax deductions being doubled to $24,000 for married couples and $12,000 for single filers and the per-child tax deduction also doubled, Republican Governor Bruce Rauner is not happy. He's upset about the local, state and mortgage deductions being capped at $10,000 per year.
Rauner said the tax reform all Illinois Republican Congress members supported will increase the cost of living for Illinoisans.
BREAKING: State Rep. Jeanne Ives responds to Rauner's comments HERE
Why? Because Illinois is one of those deep blue "high tax" states in which the cap could affect middle class taxpayers. After all, Illinois pays some of the highest property taxes in the nation and the legislature voted in 2017 to hike personal and business income taxes.
The governor made his frustrations known during a WJOL radio interview with Kevin Kollins Wednesday:
HOST: Here in Illinois many people believe the middle class, especially in Illinois, are going to get hurt by this plan. Because of the fact that our local taxes and state taxes and the mortgage cap is going to hurt us. Do some of your plans address that? […]
RAUNER: […] The reality is cause Illinois is over taxed, and many of those taxes are no longer deductible over a 10,000 total tax burden level, that's going to hurt a lot of middle class families and higher income families. It's going to push more employers out of the state, that's going to hurt job creation, and that's going to increase the cost of living for the people of Illinois. So, it's punishing in that regard.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee jumped all over Rauner's comments Wednesday, saying he "finally gets something right" because "Peter Roskam, Randy Hultgren, Mike Bost, and Rodney Davis have been unable to admit: the GOP tax scam is going to hike taxes on middle class families and homeowners across Illinois."
Roskam, who worked on the reform plan, said the day the bill passed that taxpayers in his 6th CD would save over $4000 in federal taxes as a result of the Trump plan.
“After months of work developing a tax code that prioritizes middle-income families and small businesses, Congress has sent a bill to the President’s desk that I am pleased to say accomplishes that goal. Taxpayers in every tax bracket on average will see a tax break under this new tax code and the average family of four in my district making the median income of $135,485 and taking the standard deduction will save more than $4,500," Roskam said in a statement.
“Today, Congress seized the opportunity of a lifetime and the American people will reap the benefits,” he said.
What Trump’s tax plan will do (I HOPE it will do) is force Illinois’ taxpayers to take a close look at how this state, and their communities, school boards, and other taxing entities, uses or mis-uses the taxpayers’ money.
The waste and incompetence of some of these entities has been camouflaged by the federally-allowed tax deductions for far too long.
Excuse me Mr Governor but a federal tax applies to every state in the union. Thus it is not and will not be the cause of employers moving out of Illinois. They move out because they don’t want to be in a highly-taxed, highly-regulated bankrupt state with an incompetent and corrupt government. Middle class families move to states with lower taxes and lower crime and a less hostile cultural environment.
Bruce, you failed.
When is Bruce Rauner going to follow the lead of Michael Bloomberg and announce that he really is not a “Republican” and move on to campaign as an independent candidate?
Rauner is a total idiot.
Hopefully he will not regain the Republican nomination.
Mr. Not In Charge has been no help so why would anyone expect that he would support sound tax reform?
And the Governor did nothing to prevent the raising of our income taxes and property taxes.
After the primary.
Unfortunately he’s running in the party of idiots that nominated him last time.
Hard to disagree with you that the GOP establishment is full of idiots as is the Democratic establishment.
Aren’t you glad that you followed the advice of that supposed downstate Tea Party “leader” who admonished us on the pages of IR, to “put on your big-boy pants and vote for Rauner?
That was Rick Newton from some suburban group near Bartlett. He’s been silent while he’s been called out on these pages. Not sure why he doesn’t put on his big boy pants and tell us why Rauner has been good.
He’s hiding in a corner of his basement from the political hailstorm brought on by Rauner’s tax and pro-abortion votes.
I’m afraid his “big boy pants” now have some permanent brown stains.
Thank you for researching and publishing his name. That Newton fellow really shouldn’t ever feel comfortable showing his face in any right-of-center party or picnic or parade or anywhere, again.
LOL!