Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka says she doesn’t see how Illinois will be able to make progress toward paying its backlog of bills and supporting vital services without extending the state’s income tax increase. \
That temporary tax hike is scheduled to end in 2014… but Topinka notes that even with the revenue it brought in, the state is still not reducing its load of overdue bills and is having to make damaging cuts to social services.
She says that she doesn’t expect to be included in negotiations between the governor and legislative leaders on the future of the tax hike… but says that if she were, she would tell them that the state will need that revenue to balance its books in the most responsible, least damaging way. [Topinka appeared live on 970 WMAY’s “Jim Leach Show” during Republican Day at the State Fair.]
