General Assembly passes tax hike instead of balanced budget; Rauner opposes tying emergency services to tax hike
SPRINGFIELD – Governor Bruce Rauner today issued the following statement regarding the General Assembly’s decision to override his amendatory veto of SB1811, which tied critical 9-1-1 emergency services to a massive tax hike on Illinois families and businesses:
“While the majority in the General Assembly has been unable to move forward with a balanced budget, it has found the time to inflict further abuse on Illinois taxpayers. Today the majority failed taxpayers by using the threat of canceling 9-1-1 services as leverage to force a tax hike on Illinois residents. We tried to stop this cynical legislation by utilizing an amendatory veto that would have ensured that emergency services continued without an unnecessary tax hike. The veto also would have allowed 9-1-1 to continue in future years without special legislation to renew the services.
“Instead of passing those common sense changes, the majority in the General Assembly has chosen to hold innocent people, our most vulnerable residents and essential services hostage to pass an excessive, unwarranted tax hike. They appear to be using the same strategy in the current budget impasse. We will continue to fight against these attempts to shakedown taxpayers by threatening critical services that they depend on.”
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