Chicago-based planning group will continue to advocate for property tax reform
(Chicago) …
The Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) is greatly encouraged by Gov.
Rod Blagojevich’s bold plans to improve the funding and quality of our
public schools, and to lighten
considerably
Illinois’ fiscal load by significantly
reducing the state’s pension debt.
“For years, we’ve called for meaningful school funding
and accountability reforms to ensure all Illinois schoolchildren receive a
quality education,” said Scott Goldstein, MPC vice president of policy and
planning. “The governor’s Helping Kids Learn
plan is a far-reaching
proposal that targets significant new state revenues to proven methods for
bringing Illinois’ public school system from where it is – a system that
struggles to adequately educate Illinois students – to where it needs to be –
one that prepares all of our children to compete in the global economy.”
While preparing
Illinois
’ future workforce is key to a healthy
statewide economy, so, too, is breaking the decades-old cycle of disinvestment
that plagues too many
Illinois
communities. The Metropolitan
Planning Council urges state leaders to include property tax reform in the final
budget, to ensure communities like
Harvey
– where property taxes are four times
higher for homeowners and nine times higher for commercial properties than the
national average – can compete for new business investment and homeowners.
“Only targeted property
tax reform will put distressed
Illinois
communities on a level playing field
to attract jobs and tax revenue to support their schools in the long term,”
added Goldstein.
The Council
still believes that an increase to the personal and corporate income tax and
a broadening of the sales tax would be the best way to fund education. The
state’s long-term economic well-being also drives MPC’s concerns about the
gross receipts tax as a revenue source for funding schools. The “devil will be in
the details” to ensure that a gross receipts tax does not create new problems
that will hamper economic development and job growth
in
Illinois.
“We have called
for elected officials to put solutions on the table,” said Goldstein. “We
look forward to working with the governor and other elected officials to improve
upon this plan and finally enact reforms that are sorely needed
in
Illinois.”