How Illinois Democrats Raised The State Income Tax 67%: Chicago Tribune Editorial Reminds Voters of Sleaze

The Chicago Tribune reports:

The reassurance: At a next-day news conference, Quinn invoked the word "temporary" three times, including, "I want to point out that the, I guess, 1 point of the income tax, 1 percent, is temporary for four years. It will fall to 3.75 percent at the end of that time" — that is, after Dec. 31, 2014.


The paybacks: Four of the 12 House Democrats who as lame ducks voted for Quinn's tax hike subsequently landed good-paying, taxpayer-funded jobs through the governor. Two others landed government jobs elsewhere. Our favorite: State Rep. Bob Flider of Mount Zion in 2010 campaigned against even Quinn's proposed 33 percent income tax hike. He called it "the absolute last thing we need to be doing," and urged that Illinois instead "eliminate waste" and make "hard choices." He then lost his election and, on his last day in office, voted for the 67 percent hike. Today Flider is the director of Quinn's Department of Agriculture.

The guys that brought Barack Obama.