Illinois is about a quarter of the way into its fiscal year and building up debt along the way. A new report from the Civic Federation says it's a return to detrimental policies that landed Illinois in an unstable financial position in the first place.
There was one, glaring question for lawmakers last spring: what were they going to do about the temporary income tax?
Illinois hiked rates in 2011, but only until midway through this fiscal year. The 5-percent rate rolls back to 3.75 percent in January.
Instead, says Lawrence Msall, they ignored the question.
"This budget, that is the spending plan for FY15, allows - because of gimmicks, because of shifting funds from one fund to the next and using accounting sleight of hand - actually runs up the unpaid bills by $400 million."
Msall is head of the Civic Federation, a nonpartisan research group focused on maximizing government efficiencies.
He says as it stands now, this year's budget will make it even harder to tackle next year's, when Illinois could face a full year without money from the higher tax rate.
