Quinn Supporters Urge Rauner To Release Full Tax Returns
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The campaigns of Gov. Pat Quinn and challenger Bruce Rauner were trading fire Thursday over who pays what in personal income taxes.
WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports Rauner's campaign has released enough information from his tax returns to show he used fee waivers to lower his effective income tax rate to 15 percent – about half the 30 percent multimillionaires such as he could pay.
Illinois House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago) and state Sen. Michael Hastings (D-Orland Hills) said they're not suggesting Rauner did anything wrong, but said Rauner should release his full tax returns so people can see how he did it.
"I have no doubt that Mr. Rauner was within his rights to avoid taxes. I'm sure it was legal, but I think we the people have a right to know how in the world it happened," Currie said.
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Currie said Congress might want to close some of the tax loopholes Rauner used to reduce his taxes.
"I would think that our federal lawmakers would want to know what kinds of scams are going on, so that maybe, maybe they would close some of the loopholes that are available to the very wealthy, but are not available to you and to me," Currie said.
Rauner campaign spokesman Mike Schrimpf called the statements a "political stunt."
"Bruce has paid every penny of tax he owed, he has already voluntarily released far more tax information than he's required to, and he's disclosed every business interest he has in Illinois. It's no surprise that Pat Quinn would rather talk about Bruce Rauner's taxes than the taxes Quinn raised on every worker and family in Illinois and his plan to make those tax hikes permanent," Schrimpf said.
The Rauner campaign also pointed out Quinn has not paid Social Security taxes for years, as is his right as a public employee ineligible for Social Security benefits.
