October 23, 2020
Earlier in 2020 the Civic Federation released a series of three blog posts discussing various aspects of the proposal to amend the Illinois Constitution to allow a graduated income tax and the proposed rate structure. Those posts have been among the most viewed in the history of civicfed.org, clearly responding to a need for independent and dependable information on the proposal.
The Federation collected those posts together and added additional analysis over the following months to create the educational issue brief released today that is intended to provide voters with the information needed to make their own decisions on the ballot question.
The full issue brief can be found here.
The full issue brief discusses:
- The history of the income tax in Illinois, including why the state has a flat tax;
- The graduated income tax proposal passed by the General Assembly in 2019;
- The income tax structures of other states;
- How the graduated income tax would affect taxpayers at different income levels using scenario analysis; and
- Examining the graduated income tax proposal through the lens of tax policy principles.
The Civic Federation extends its thanks to the Taxpayers’ Federation of Illinois for giving the Federation permission to reproduce their sample taxpayer scenario analyses. You can read TFI’s report on their website.
The issue brief is separate from a Civic Federation position statement issued earlier this week, in which the Federation announced its opposition to the amendment.