Lake County Gazette

Sen. Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) lambasted his Democratic colleagues on Wednesday for passing a budget measure he said will victimize the innocent.

“No doubt, there is a lot of blame to go around for the fiscal woes of this state, but the one person who is not to blame is the taxpayer,” McConchie said, according to a press release. “But yet again, it is the taxpayers who are being punished for the wrongdoings of past legislatures.

The Senate advanced the measure along partisan lines, on a vote of 32 to 26. It would increase the state income tax by 30 percent as part of an effort to close the $5 billion budget deficit. Republicans have been fighting for putting reforms in place to cut spending instead.

Sen. Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods)

“I’ve said this from the beginning: The budget conversations that took place in the Senate started from the wrong place,” McConchie said in the statement. “They started with digging into the pocketbooks of taxpayers instead of cutting government spending. Today, we witnessed legislators take the easy way out by raising taxes without adequate reforms or cuts in government spending. It is wrong and should be rejected if it reaches the Governor's desk.”