During the early morning hours of the end of session on June 1st, Illinois Democrats passed a $56 billion Fiscal Year 2027 State Budget, which spends nearly a billion dollars more than last year.
The Democratic majority’s budget is a record-high $55.9 billion and relies on $800 million in new revenue, including new taxes on social media platforms and digital ads, while raiding $150 million of revenue from the state sales tax on gasoline.
Deputy Republican Leader Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) issued the following statement in response to passage of the new State budget:
“The Democrats’ record-high spending plan is a shell game that hurts Illinois taxpayers. This shell game budget moves money from one fund to another while not really cutting anything.
“It’s absurd for the Democratic majority to say there’s no new taxes on working families in this budget. Who do they think will end up paying for the new social media and digital ad taxes? These taxes will be passed along to those using these platforms. It’s the same with the tax hikes on Illinois businesses. The people who will end up paying for these tax hikes are Illinois consumers.
“Regarding capital spending, once again there are hundreds of millions of dollars for special projects in Democratic legislators’ districts, but nothing for the taxpayers in Republican districts. My constituents pay the same taxes as constituents in my Democratic colleagues’ districts and deserve equal treatment.
“I will say it’s good to see some of our higher education funding restored, but higher ed has been suffering for years due to chronic underfunding. Capital infrastructure needs at our universities continue to be ignored and we are losing students because of it.
“Working families and seniors will continue to have more taken from their wallets under the Democrats’ record-high spending plan. We can and must do better for the hardworking taxpayers of Illinois.”