Lake County Gazette

Adam Solano might have predicted that Rep. Sam Yingling (D-Grayslake) would not stand behind his vow to oppose Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s progressive income tax push.

“I don’t know if he was ever really serious about it to begin with,” Solano, who was once Yingling’s Republican opponent for the 62nd-District seat, told the Lake County Gazette. “He likes to do public relations around things that get his name out there for publicity's sake. I think that was his motive; I don’t know if he was ever really serious.”

With Pritzker intent on advancing the progressive tax idea he has been touting as a replacement for the current flat tax system since his days as a candidate, Yingling penned a letter in the Chicago Tribune in May in which he declared himself a “no” vote on the legislation “unless adoption of a progressive income tax ends the state’s regressive and abusive property tax system.”

Adam Solano | Ballotpedia

With the mention of the possibility of a property tax task force from Pritzker, the governor was able to get Yingling's "yes" vote after all. Solano said voters should have known better.

“He isn’t powerful enough, he isn’t independent enough, and he’s not thoughtful enough to oppose the people that fund his campaign, that fund his political career,” Solano said.

Solano insists that voters have seen this type of thing before from Yingling, who has held his seat since 2013.

“All of his brochures and campaign signs, he touts himself as a tax-cutter, but he’s never meaningfully cut taxes," Solano said. "Let’s say he’s done a few things in the past, [but] all of that has been undone with his vote here.”

According to Illinois Policy Institute, the state's residents already pay the second highest property taxes in the country, and Pritzker’s progressive plan does nothing to address the biggest cost drivers such as pensions and health insurance for government workers. Solano senses more and more that voters have grown tired of the deceit from their representatives such as Yingling.

“This is just another way he twists his voting,” Solano said of his one-time opponent. “He’s more of a publicity hound than he is a thoughtful legislator. It’s a broken promise in that he is consistent in voting to protect his role and status in Springfield. He represents himself first before he represents the people in the district.”