Usually
when polls are taken about tax hikes, the respondents are "informed"
about the benefits of raising more government money, whether it's for
education, public services or what have you. So, not surprisingly, those polls
regularly show lots of support for tax increases.
But
a recent poll of 800 Illinois voters taken this month on behalf of the Illinois
Coalition for Jobs, Growth & Prosperity, a business group, only asked
whether Illinoisans favored raising taxes to balance the state's budget.
Since
the state is in such a deep hole, that's pretty much all any tax hike will go
for anyway - and it won't even fully accomplish that. And since most people
don't pay a great deal of attention to state government, that's all they
probably know about the tax hike plan anyway.
So,
the results probably won't surprise you.
A
whopping 73 percent opposed hiking taxes to balance the budget, while only 23
percent supported the concept.
According
to the poll, 82 percent of Illinoisans believe that the governor and lawmakers
have not done enough to control state spending. That's also not a surprising
number. Very few governments ever do "enough" to control spending.
The
poll asked lots of questions about forcing someone else to bear the brunt of
the multi billion dollar budget deficit nightmare this state faces.
Cut
pension benefits for newly hired state workers? 72 percent agreed. Force the
state employees union to reopen its contract and renegotiate pay raises? 74 percent said "Heck yes."
Require unpaid furloughs for state employees? 65 percent were on board. Make
state workers pay more for health care? 65 percent wanted it. Roll back
Medicaid eligibility a bit? 72 percent were for it.
The
survey asked just one specific question about "shared sacrifice."
Human beings tend to want somebody else to carry the load, so the answer to
this question wasn't all that amazing, either.
"Would
you support closing state facilities like aged prisons, state parks, historic
sites until the state's finances improve?" the pollster asked.
"No"
was the overwhelming response. Almost three-quarters, 74 percent, said they
don't want those facilities to close during the budget meltdown.
Well,
too bad.
You
can't come close to balancing the budget - currently estimated at $9.2 billion
in the hole - even if the General Assembly enacted all the spending reforms so
widely supported in that poll. It would barely make a dent.
The
only real way to close that gaping hole is to do the things that three-quarters
of Illinoisans don't want, and a whole lot more.
I
assume that if voters were asked the same question about closing down rape
treatment centers, drug abuse rehab facilities, scholarship funds for college
students and programs for autistic and handicapped children the "No"
responses might be even higher.
What
about daycare for financially strapped single mothers struggling to get on
their feet? Home care for the elderly? The "No" responses would
probably be off the charts.
We
assume that because we live in the richest nation in the world that devastating
governmental shut-downs like those listed above shouldn't happen and couldn't
happen.
Unfortunately,
times have changed. Gross mismanagement by Rod Blagojevich (a governor who was
elected twice, by the way) and the worst economic climate since the Great
Depression mean that one of two things has to happen:
1)
Those programs and facilities listed above and many, many more are going to
have to be shut down; or
2)
Taxes will have to be raised and many of those programs might still have to be
shuttered because the budget hole is so big.
I
keep seeing newspaper editorials, columnists and letters to the editor
practically begging for some sort of magic solution to this problem. Can't
something be done without raising taxes and still preserve vital programs and
public facilities?
No.
You
have to cut where the spending is.
There
is no magic bullet. President Barack Obama has said the states aren't getting
any more bailouts. Our state Constitution, which Illinois voters overwhelmingly
refused to change last year, requires a balanced budget.
We're
stuck.
As
I write this, legislators are scheduled to return to Springfield to attempt to
deal with the budget disaster. If they can't find a solution, the doomsday will
be upon us. Maybe then Illinoisans will realize what "balancing a
budget" is really about.
The
budget, in the end, is about all of us. It's our responsibility. I just hope
you don't have to find that out the hard way.
-30-
Rich
Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and
thecapitolfaxblog.com.