From The Desk Down State

In his second Budget Address to lawmakers, Gov. J.B. Pritzker unveiled a proposal that seeks $1.6 billion in new spending and makes some funding for priorities like education, health care and public safety contingent on the approval of his income tax increase.

Let me repeat that. Pritzker’s message is that his tax increase must be approved in order to fund $1.4 billion for priorities like schools, health care and public safety. He is basically holding these programs hostage. For example, Illinois’ revamped school funding formula from 2017 requires the state to statutorily increase school fundi...