State tax income up by a half-billion in August
SPRINGFIELD — State-source tax revenue grew by more than $530 million last month over August 2010 figures, but Gov. Pat Quinn said Tuesday that he still must send out layoff notices this week to thousands of state employees and will announce plans to close several state facilities.
Quinn said the Legislature didn't appropriate enough money to maintain state services at the current level.
"I have to abide by the will of the General Assembly," Quinn said in Chicago. "They passed a budget that requires reductions, and therefore we'll have to carry those reductions out."
"The bottom line is, the money isn't there to pay for a full fiscal year unless reductions are made," he said.
Sen. Mike Frerichs, D-Champaign, agreed that the budget lawmakers sent Quinn mandated cuts.
"I think it's clear that the budget the House and Senate passed requires there be cuts in state government. You can effect those cuts by layoffs or furloughs or reduction in pay," said Frerichs. "I think the governor is going to have to cut. I will be very interested in seeing where he chooses to make these strategically."
Frerichs said he doesn't believe that Danville's 26-year-old state prison, with an inmate population of about 1,800, is in danger of closing.
"As for Danville, I just think that over the last several years with all the suggestions about closings, Danville has never been one of them. There are older facilities out there that probably would be more appropriate to close," he said.
But Frerichs cautioned against increasing spending just because the Legislature's Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability reported a continued revenue uptick last month.
"I think there is still an enormous backlog of unpaid bills and I think the recovery is in jeopardy, so I think we have to careful about spending money we don't have," he said.
COGFA, of which Frerichs is one of 12 members, reported Tuesday that overall revenue to the state was up 11.3 percent or $223 million last month. But while state-source revenue grew by about 32 percent, federal revenue was down $264 million or 66 percent from a year earlier.
Personal income tax revenue grew by 68.2 percent last month and the corporate income tax was up by 93 percent. Both figures are greater than the 67 percent income tax increases enacted in January.
State sales tax revenue also was up by 11.7 percent.
Through two months of the new fiscal year, personal income taxes are up $825 million, sales taxes are up $128 million and corporate income taxes have risen $34 million.
Further, last month the state received an expected $73 million payment from the owners of the new riverboat casino in Des Plaines.
But not all the revenue news is good. Lottery sales are off by $6 million or 7.3 percent this fiscal year. And after a 17 percent increase in casino revenue in July because of the opening of the Des Plaines casino, gambling revenue dropped by $12 million or 40 percent, compared with August 2010.
MoreOh my.... The state employee haters are out already even at this early hour. A contract was signed. The employees differed two raises to avoid layoffs. They signed an agreement to abide by it. Now, their raises are due. They have families to support just as you do. They do work hard especially now with years of staff reductions. Now, it seems okay to mock them; and steal from them. Okay, remember that when you need state services. Maybe, the incarcerated can be outsourced to serve you. Both political parties are liars. Their word, and signed contracts are worthless. State bond holders should take notice. Lending institutions will notice it. If their word is no good to their employees in contracts; their word is no good on any other contracts. Illinois legislators are playing the same game as the Congress is playing. They control the purse strings. They give the executive branch not enough money to cover the bills. That way they can blame the executive branch for cutting services, dishonoring contracts, and discontinuing services to the poor and disabled. Yeah; it takes some heroes to gloat, and mock the state employees, and the most needy citizens who depend on their services.
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