Lake County Gazette

Republican state House candidate Chris Kasperski doesn’t mince words in expressing the disdain he holds for the progressive tax plan eagerly being advanced by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

“Gov. Pritzker is throwing millions of dollars behind the effort to sell to voters a tax increase that was drafted by corrupt legislators with corrupt intentions,” Kasperski told the Lake County Gazette. “We cannot allow ourselves to be fooled by their propaganda campaign. They call it the ‘fair tax’ despite their plan to tax people unfairly. We should reject any proposal that uses doublespeak to try to confuse people into thinking that it will benefit them.”

With veteran state Sen. Terry Link (D-Indian Creek) also becoming the fourth Democratic lawmaker who strongly backs the plan to now find themselves facing criminal charges, Marter argues there clearly are other reasons why taxpayers should reject the proposed tax like the plague. Facing tax evasion charges, Link joins former state Rep. Luis Arroyo, who faces up to 10 years in prison, and state Sen. Tom Cullerton, who has been hit with 41-count indictment on embezzlement charges. One-time state Sen. Martin Sandoval has already plead guilty to taking $250,000 in bribes from SafeSpeed, a red-light camera vendor.

And then there is longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan, who finds himself implicated in an ongoing federal corruption probe involving ComEd in which its alleged bribes were steered to several of his close associates as part of a pay-to-play scheme aimed at currying favor with him.

“Gov. Pritzker is trying to save his party from having to face the music for being unable to pay for all the promises that they have made to get elected over the decades that they have had control over the state government,” added Kasperski, who is running against state Sen. Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake) in the 31st District. “He cannot convince people to vote for it on its merits, so he has dumped over $55 million into the propaganda campaign to try to make it more appealing to the unsuspecting masses.”

Kasperski argues there’s no way the tax can work the way it’s being sold by the governor, namely as a levy that will only mean higher rates for the state’s richest residents.

“The affluent Illinoisians that they are seeking to extract more money from have the means to join the mass exodus of people fleeing Illinois for a state that will treat them better,” he said. “There are simply not enough rich people in Illinois to pay for all the promises that the Illinois Democrats have made and so it is inevitable that they will raise them on everyone else as their spending needs are unfulfilled.”