Illinois House Democrats Regroup, Craft Budget Without Higher Tax

Illinois House Democrats have given up on extending a temporary income tax increase and have begun working on a scaled-back state spending plan.
 
Speaker Michael Madigan said Monday that House working groups would begin work
on a ``middle-of-the-road'' budget that's in line with a revenue estimate of about $34 billion.
 
Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn wants to make permanent the income-tax increase that's set to roll back in January. It's costing the typical Illinois taxpayer about $1,100 more this year.
 
But the House couldn't collect enough support to adopt that plan to fund a budget blueprint of about $38 billion. The House also rejected on Friday a ``doomsday'' budget that would have meant severe cuts to services.
 
Madigan says a new revenue estimate adds about $189 million to the bank account.