On Eve of Education Funding Rally, Greens Reaffirm Support for House/Senate Bill 750, Criticize Gross Receipts Tax Scheme

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Contact: Phil Huckelberry, 309-268-9974, phil.huckelberry@gmail.com

On the eve of a large education funding rally planned for Springfield on May 2, the Illinois Green Party has released a policy statement reaffirming support for House Bill 750 and sharply criticizing Governor Blagojevich's Gross Receipts Tax plan embodied in Senate Bill 1.

"HB/SB 750 is the best, most well-thought-out version of the 'income tax for property tax swap' for which fair-tax and education reformers in Illinois have been fighting for years," reads the policy statement, primarily written by Rich Whitney, 2006 Green Party gubernatorial candidate.

The position statement points to several advantages of House/Senate Bill 750 over Senate Bill 1:

* $2.7 billion in ongoing property tax relief, in contrast to $1 billion in one-time relief under the Blagojevich plan.

* $2.1 billion to increase the foundation level of our schools, in contrast to the $1.5 billion under the Blagojevich plan.

* $900 million in targeted tax relief to the bottom 60% of all taxpayers, $300 million for higher education, improved funding for special education, and $300 million to fund educational programs for schools in communities of
concentrated poverty.

Additionally, HB/SB 750, newly revised this legislative term, now contains a provision to pay off the State's $40.7 billion pension liability. Senate Bill 1 includes Blagojevich's widely panned scheme to privatize the
Illinois Lottery as a means for correcting the pension liability.

The heart of HB/SB 750 is an increase in the State income tax (from 3 to 5 percent) with tax credits for lower- and middle-income taxpayers, coupled with a dedicated fund to provide badly needed property tax abatements to
local taxpayers. Senate Bill 1, in contrast, relies on a Gross Receipts Tax, a regressive, error-plagued taxation scheme.

"We call on other education funding and fair-tax reformers to join with us and carry on the fight for HB/SB 750," concludes the position paper.

The complete text of the Illinois Green Party position paper on education funding plans is available at http://www.ilgp.org/groups/schools or by fax or email upon request.