You know, I risk saying this as a stalwart Republican, but I really like one thing about Governor Rod Blagojevich – his hair. Of course that is about all I like about Governor Rod. Maybe it’s because he’s got a great head of it and I’m starting to lose mine. It’s kind of like the old adage, “People always want what they don’t have”. Well, that is precisely what the governor tried to do through his gross receipts tax. He wants what the state doesn’t have – lot’s of cash. So instead of raising it the old fashioned way and cutting back on expenses like you and I have to do, he wants to rob it from those who have had to earn it and cut back on their expenses – Illinois business.
According to the governor, big business is any hard working business that makes a gross income (that’s before taxes and all the costs of doing business!) of one million dollars. So many business advocators are jumping on the “let’s explain the system of business and taxes to the governor” bandwagon that it looks like a parade all the way to Springfield – or where ever the governor is campaigning today. Crain’s Chicago Business explains, “his plan to sock Illinois business with $7 billion in new taxes to fund government-sponsored health insurance and boost education spending ignores two fundamental principles. First it imposes no controls to ensure that the new spending goes to the intended recipients. Second, it requires no concessions from groups that will benefit from the new spending”.
The governor made these decisions evidently thinking that he IS government. It would be good for him to remember the valuable lessons of many politicians past – that the PEOPLE are the government and that includes business people. And even though Americans like charity, or giving health care to everyone, or paying even more for the education system’s broken down programming, Americans sure would rather for someone else to pay for it.
This scheme that the governor has dreamed up will not be “free” for anyone. Thomas Donlan states in his Barron’s editorial, “like most Americans, we are not too wild about paying for our own health care. Like most Americans, we feel that it costs a lot, and we’d much prefer that someone else pay for it”. Mr. Donlan goes on to say what the politicians should say, “If you want universal health care for other people, you’ll pay for it, in lost wages, higher premiums, higher prices, higher taxes, long waits or overcrowding or all of them”. Making Illinois “big business” pay for it will only make all of us Illinois citizens pay for it in one way or the other. Illinois businesses will not shift the cost of doing business on to their customers only from out of state. The necessary cost increases will and must certainly be pushed on to us – Illinois consumers.
So since we know that health care and education are not “free” giveaway programs to anyone involved (that’s all of us, folks), what is to be done for all Illinoisans if the governor makes these programs “free” to their recipients? We all know (especially those of us NOT in Springfield) that in the world of striking deals both sides must give a little here or there. What concession has the governor asked from Illinois medical providers who stand to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars annually from the program suggested? Remember, as non-profits, hospitals are exempt from the proposed gross-receipt tax the governor would like to see imposed on for-profit businesses. What will they give in return? You bet – nothing!
What about the schools? We all believe that if we educate our children well, they will grow up and bring their knowledge and abilities back to the state. It’s a great plan, but a plan that will take decades to work. Beside, how much more money will it take for Illinois to throw upon the pyre of education funding before it realizes that evidently cash only fuels most of the existing problems? Will we finally demand that the money actually go to the classroom where it’s needed? Who will ever broker for the long needed measures in education such as consolidating local school districts? Evidently not this politician governor!
Congratulations to the Illinois legislature for voting down Governor A-Rod’s 2007 Illinois Gross Receipts Tax and doing it in a unified voice (1004 to 0)!
In the end this governor means well, per the principles of Robin Hood. Charity has a high cost and all Illinoisans would like to see someone else pay for it. If only we could get some other state to voluntarily pay for our charity, but that’s NOT going to happen. Anyone who’s ever had to balance a checkbook knows you also must enter fewer deductions to make the numbers come out to zero. Until we find an equitable way to level all the money in Illinois across the whole population (remember, this hasn’t worked in Communist countries for the past century), I suggest we NOT try to tear down the one aspect of Illinois business that is working – Illinois business.
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