State Senator Jason Barickman/WJEZ file photo
By Todd Wineburner
State Senator Jason Barickman says he’s bracing himself for the last few weeks of the Spring session of the Illinois General Assembly. During a recent interview with WJEZ, Barickman said he’s been conducting town hall meetings throughout his district, and he says people are concerned about taxation in Illinois—especially talk of fundamentally changing the taxing formula for the state.
Governor J.B. Pritzker is an advocate of a graduated tax plan that he says would require wealthier citizens to bear more of the tax burden in Illinois. Barickman says that his concern is the fact that Pritzker’s plan would require a constitutional change which would go to the voters in November 2020. He says there’s a great deal of skepticism about the tax proposal, but he concedes that it could pass. “I think the folks who are in charge in Springfield are dead set on spending some of their own time and money trying to make this thing become law, and I’m concerned about it.”
Barickman says there is a chance for bi-partisanship in the tax question because some downstate Democrats are aligned more closely with Republicans than with the Chicago Democratic presence.
Barickman says the budget is going to dominate the discussion for the last few weeks of the session and while he endorses some ideas, he’s troubled by some of the governor’s spending proposals. Barickman and other Republicans believe more restraint is in order, and he’s not sure that conservative voices will be heard. “I’m not yet sure whether the Democrats have decided if they want to work with Republicans or just go it alone,” Barickman says. He points specifically to the minimum wage hike, which Democrats passed without Republican support. Barickman says he hopes that kind of episode isn’t repeated. When asked to predict how the rest of the session will go, Barickman is pragmatic. “I suspect it’s going to be a bumpy and chaotic ride for the next month.”
You can hear WJEZ’s conversation with State Senator Jason Barickman by clicking on the PODCASTS link in the main menu.
