Chambana Sun

Illinois state Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) walked away from Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s recent state budget address more convinced than ever about what he thinks his proposed progressive tax would add up to.

“It’s legalized class warfare, with Democrats picking and choosing who they want to run out of Illinois,” Caulkins told the Chambana Sun. “I’m on record about this, but I’ll say it again there’s no way we can tax our way out of all our problems.”

Just the same, Pritzker used a fair amount of his speech pushing his long-expressed support for a progressive tax to replace the state’s current flat tax system. While the governor has insisted the legislation will only mean higher tax rates for the state’s wealthiest residents, Caulkins is among a growing group of Republican lawmakers who question the validity of that contention.

“It’s very clear and simple what’s being proposed is an amendment to the state constitution so they can decide what income levels they want to raise taxes on,” he said. “Right now, the target is the upper 5 percent of incomes across the state, but when that doesn’t work how long do you think it will be before they’re targeting more people? There’s nothing sacred about the tax rates or income brackets here, everything is subject to change as long as democrats are in charge and they refuse to rein in spending.”

Caulkins said throughout his speech Pritzker made sure to hammer home the point that he’s willing to go to almost any lengths to get what he wants.

“He’s bribing people and threatening other sectors with the taunt if they want money for their causes they’re going to have to vote for this,” he said. “It’s hostage-taking, and I guess you had to anticipate that something like this would happen given we’re talking about Springfield.