Not everyone agrees what constitutes sound fiscal policy for Illinois, particularly when it comes to the proposed graduated income tax amendment to Illinois' Constitution that voters will consider this fall.

"If you have a flat rate and you need to increase revenue, you have to increase taxes for low- and middle-income families," said Ralph Martire, executive director for the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a Chicago-based bipartisan think tank. The only way to avoid that is to have a graduated rate structure that shifts the tax burden to upper-income families, he said.

The governor's new spending plan ties education support, pension funding and more to the outcome of a graduated income tax amendment on the November ballot. And if that fails? Says a watchdog, "We'll wait and see."

The battle of getting fair tax is on in Illinois. JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, said last March that the current flat tax of the state was regressive. The percentage of the same income had detrimental impacts on people earning $50000 or less per year. The taxpayers having high disposable income per month will not have many detrimental effects over the same percentage of income.

Pritzker said that people having higher incomes would pay more taxes. It will add more than $3 billion in additional tax revenue. 

The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA) and the Taxpayers’ Federation of Illinois (TFI) jointly released a new report, Expanding the Base of Illinois’ Sales Tax to Consumer Services Will Both Modernize State Tax Policy and Help Stabilize Revenue. This report identifies why expanding the base of the state sales tax to include consumer services—like pet grooming, haircuts, country club membership, health clubs, and lawn care—would simultaneously help to stabilize revenue generation for the state’s fiscal system, while reforming tax policy to comport with the modern economy.