Marathon Pundit: IL comptroller: None of Quinn's "temporary" tax increase has gone to pay off old bills

The first 50 seconds of the ABC 7 Chicago news story is about the still-unsigned Illinois casino expansion bill, but the more important part of the Ben Bradley report begins down the hall from Governor Pat Quinn's state capitol lair--in the office of Republican Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, "where the phone rings non-stop."

Who is calling? "People call demanding when the state will pay its bills," Bradley says. Illinois has more than 180,000 unpaid bills that add up to $4 billion--Illinois is six months behind in paying its vendors.

What about the 67 percent increase in the Illinois personal income tax the Democrats pushed through in a January lame-duck session? Didn't Quinn say it was needed to pay off old bills? My paycheck is smaller thanks to Quinn--is any of my loss in income being used to pay off those bills? "None of it," Topinka says. "It was already spoken for" to make pension and Medicaid payments.

Quinn says the tax hike is temporary--but the state isn't cutting spending. The tax increase will be permanent as long as Quinn is in office.

Which reminds me of something Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman said: "Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program."

Related posts:

Quinn's "Amazon tax" costing Illinois jobs
Gov. Quinn Pro Quo: Pat Quinn's public-sector union cash, part four
IL treasurer Rutherford says Illinois on "verge of a financial disaster"

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