After Midnight: Illinois Lame Duck Legislature Makes History

At 1:00 a.m. this morning the Illinois senate passed a bill to increase the state's income tax rate by 66% and raised the corporate tax to 7%, the highest corporate tax rate, as Stuart Varney pointed out, in the entire Western world.

Congratulations, citizens and businesses of Illinois. Your legislature just made history. And all you have to do is pay for it:

The increase means an Illinois resident who now owes $1,000 in state income taxes will pay $1,666 at the new rate.

The Democrats stayed up late to pass the tax increases because today at noon the newly elected legislators take over from the lame ducks. From the New York Times:

In the new session, Democrats will continue to control both chambers, but their margins will shrink. Some leading Democrats viewed this as the only time when such a politically difficult vote might be possible: a moment when departing legislators need not fret over how voters might react.

Another thing many of the departing legislators don't have to fret about is their future paychecks. No doubt the tax increases will fund many public sector jobs the exiting lame ducks--and their friends and supporters--plan to be holding soon.
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