Lake County Gazette

Illinois state Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills) thinks desperate times call for desperate measures.

“The Illinois General Assembly needs to immediately convene in an emergency session,” McSweeney told the Lake County Gazette as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc all over the state. “We need to adopt property tax and sale tax relief for our citizens and appropriate emergency funds where needed.”

McSweeney isn’t the only one in Springfield now calling for drastic actions from Gov. J.B. Pritzker. A group of Republican lawmakers recently fired off a letter to the governor where they implored him to enact policy freezing unemployment insurance rates and the state minimum wage over at least the next 12 months as a way of helping more small business owners to survive the crisis. 

Republican state Reps. Allen Skillicorn (East Dundee), Blaine Wilhour (Beecher City), Chris Miller (Oakland), Darren Bailey (Xenia), Dan Caulkins (Decatur) and John Cabello (Machesney Park) all signed the letter to the governor which is still awaiting a public response from the governor’s office.

Meanwhile, McSweeney, who has long made the subject of tax reform one of his signature issues, previously calling for a 25% sales tax cut as a way of stabilizing the struggling economy.

"We should be acting to stimulate our economy during these difficult times," McSweeney added in a post to Facebook. "I favor immediately cutting the Illinois sales tax rate by 25% to help Illinois families and small businesses! We also need to cut property tax levies."

In the letter the six lawmakers forwarded to Pritzker, they also let it be known that their focus is on helping businesses survive.

“It is imperative that we ease the burdens on job creators and take every possible step to make it easier for our small businesses to put Illinois citizens back to work,” the group wrote in the letter.