LSNA Fights for a Responsible State Budget

Published: February 8, 2010

This year, the state of Illinois has a terrible cold. Next year, it could be pneumonia. This year the state made deep, damaging cuts to education, health care, human services, and public safety, plus thousands of layoffs. Next year could be much worse – if state legislators do not raise sufficient revenue.
   LSNA is already taking action. Throughout the fall, LSNA leaders have been working hard to educate the community about what is at stake with the state budget crisis.
   Parent leaders on the LSNA education committee surveyed 661 families in November. The results were both staggering and encouraging. “Almost every family in Logan Square said they would be negatively affected by state budget cuts,” reported committee president Jessica Cardona of Mozart School. “But almost everybody was interested in getting involved in the campaign.”
   The solution that LSNA is fighting for—along with hundreds of other groups in the Responsible Budget Coalition—is a fair tax reform, H.B. 174. This bill would:
- raise the state income tax
- cut property taxes, and
- increase tax credits for low income workers. Under H.B. 174 most Logan Square households would pay less in state taxes.
(Rule of thumb: families of four making less than $55,000 per year would pay less)
   “We know we need to raise more revenue for the state. We know we need to approve a fair income tax increase,” said Grow Your Own teacher candidate Consuelo Campos at a State Budget Community Forum attended by over 300 people in October. “I have no problem paying more taxes because my taxes would helping our community.”
   Funding vital services not only keeps our state running, but it saves money in the long run. For example, “cutting substance abuse treatment does not make fiscal sense,” said Marco Jacome, executive director of Healthcare Alternative Systems (HAS). “For every $1 spent on treatment, taxpayers save $7 in costs down the road.”
   Yes, we will take the fight back to Springfield to make sure that the state budget crisis is not paid for on the backs of the poor, the elderly and the disabled.

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