Lake County Gazette

Col. Craig Wilcox isn't going to let incumbent politicians hide the way a gas tax is hidden in Illinois' new state budget, he said in response to an ABC News Chicago affiliate report.

“This is unfortunately an indictment on the lack of honest and transparent government by our elected officials who are supposed to be working on behalf of tax paying constituents,” Wilcox, who is running to replace retiring Sen. Pamela Althoff (R-McHenry) in the 32nd District, told the Lake County Gazette. “Our current elected officials appear more comfortable working within our broken system to continue government overreach and perpetuate a philosophy of increasing spending that exceeds revenue, creating an insatiable desire to rob taxpayers of an ability to live within their means while government demands more and more because we can't control spending."

The McHenry County Board member said elected officials seem incapable of standing for core principles that reflect the basic values of limited government and economic freedom of their constituents.

“We need to find courageous public servants willing to turn the tide and return Illinois to principles of economic growth and personal freedom, while controlling spending and making hard decisions to balance a budget and stem exploding future liabilities,” Wilcox said.runn

Sen. Dave Syverson, (R-Rockford) has described the gas tax as another deception. 

"What's very frustrating is that normally people believe that when you pay your gas taxes, that that money is supposed to go to roads," Syverson said in the ABC News report. Instead, the anticipated $95 million will be put into the state's general fund, he said.

Wilcox said taxpayers must demand solutions that prevent politicians from playing shell games with revenue.

“We need to curtail the ability to move money around without taxpayer approval and be clear and realistic about cost-revenue pairing,” Wilcox said. “We need to fight for revenue limitations and force spending reduction actions that curtail attempting to increase revenues without spending reforms.

“A property tax cap of 1 percent of market value would force spending reforms and require government to budget similarly to how household budgets are developed.”

The candidate said spending cannot continue to exceed revenues.

“Hard limits must be placed on budget developments,” Wilcox said.

The 32nd District covers part of McHenry County.