Illinois tax increase: why lawmakers passed 66 percent income-tax hike

No other state has successfully raised income taxes to balance its 2011 budget. The Illinois tax increase would push the personal income tax rate from 3 percent to 5 percent.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn speaks with reporters in his office at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., Wednesday, Jan. 12. Quinn defended a massive increase in state income taxes passed by lawmakers Wednesday and promised to quickly sign the measure to help heal the state’s ailing finances.

By Mark Guarino, Staff writer / January 12, 2011

The Illinois legislature has passed personal income-tax increases of 66 percent and corporate income-tax in creases of 45 percent, designed to address a $15 billion state budget deficit that lawmakers said was leading the state into insolvency.

By the early hours of Wednesday, Senate and House lawmakers had voted to raise the personal income tax rate from 3 percent to 5 percent and the corporate tax rate from 4.8 percent to 7 percent. Both rates were adjusted to carry through until 2015, when they would drop to 3.25 percent and 5.25 percent, respectively.

via Illinois tax increase: why lawmakers passed 66 percent income-tax hike – CSMonitor.com.