Gov. JB Pritzker signs $53 billion Illinois state budget plan
CHICAGO (CBS/AP) -- Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday signed Illinois' $53 billion spending plan for the 2025 fiscal year that starts in July, touting it as the state's sixth consecutive balanced budget since he took office in 2019.
State lawmakers approved the budget plan last week, but only after it was nearly derailed in the Illinois House, when seven Democrats joined Republicans in voting against the bill authorizing how the spending plan would be funded, including almost $750 million in tax hikes.
After two votes to approve the revenue bill fell one vote short, Democrats finally mustered the necessary votes to pass it after suspending their own rules to keep the legislation alive.
The spending plan includes $182 million to help Chicago cover the costs of caring for migrants, and a $350 million increase in funding for schools statewide.
The budget eliminates the 1% sales tax on groceries and creates a first-ever child tax credit, as much as $300 for households with children under 12. The child tax credit will cost the state about $50 million, while eliminating the grocery tax won't affect the state budget, as all the money goes to local governments, which will now have the option of creating their own grocery tax to make up for the lost revenue.
The budget plan raises $526 million by extending a cap on tax-deductible business losses at $500,000. There's also a cap of $1,000 per month on the amount retail stores may keep for their expenses in holding back state sale taxes. That would bring in about $101 million.
And there would be $235 million more from increased sports wagering taxes and on video gambling. Pritzker wanted the tax, paid by casino sportsbooks, to jump from 15% to 35%, but it was ultimately set on a sliding scale from 20% to 40%.
Critics have called the budget "bloated," but Pritzker disagreed.
"This budget that I just signed increased spending only by 1.6% in a world where there's 3.2% inflation. So just take note of that. For all of the complaining that I've heard from people about what amounted mostly to a sports betting company increase in tax," he said.
Illinois Senate Republican Leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove) criticized Pritzker for increasing state spending by more than 30% since taking office, and expanding overall spending on care for migrants.
"The immense cost of Gov. Pritzker's taxpayer-funded spending spree coupled with President Biden's refusal to secure our nation's border, is playing out in the budget signed today. It is grossly unfair for Gov. Pritzker to raise taxes on Illinois families and businesses to pay for the migrant crisis he created," Curran said.
The state's budget officially goes into effect when the state's new fiscal year begins on July 1.