SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Illinois senators faced critical votes Wednesday on a plan to break the state’s historic budget stalemate, including separate measures that would hike income taxes and freeze property taxes.
The Senate was convening at noon to vote on major provisions in the so-called “grand bargain” – a sprawling package of legislation aimed at ending a two-year fiscal impasse that’s the nation’s longest in nearly a century.
The proposals spring from negotiations between Democratic Senate President John Cullerton and Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno. Cullerton and Radogno were hoping to stake a Senate position in the budget battle to guide negotiations with Rauner and the House.
A plan to hike personal income taxes from 3.75 percent to 4.99 percent was expected to get a floor vote Wednesday, along with a local property-tax freeze and cost-saving changes to the workers’ compensation program – measures Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner demanded.
Legislators made some progress Tuesday, approving lower-profile measures to streamline state-government purchasing, ease rules on how cities may spend tax revenue and simplify the way voters consolidate local governments. Even those were adopted mostly with Democratic votes.