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Illinois is broke. As a state constitutional officer, I am proactively making a rare request of the General Assembly: cut my budget.
Illinois is not just out of money, it currently carries more than $37 billion in state debt even after all assets including cash, investments and property would be liquefied and auctioned. By this measurement, we are the furthest in debt of all 50 states.
Record increases in personal and corporate income tax rates have failed to reverse the trend on the state’s balance sheet – debt continues to grow daily. State government spending still unconscionably outpaces revenue.
This situation is shameful.
I am cutting my budget and asking the state legislature to statutorily enact the action. I am reducing the general revenue operations funding for the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office to a level less than that of a decade ago. Will this cut dig the state out of debt? Of course not. But as a businessman coming off a 25-year career in the private sector, I have performed a careful analysis of my office’s budget – including input from an independent, volunteer, performance audit committee – and I have identified common sense ways to reduce the amount of money we spend.
Illinois is broke. As a state constitutional officer, I am proactively making a rare request of the General Assembly: cut my budget.
Illinois is not just out of money, it currently carries more than $37 billion in state debt even after all assets including cash, investments and property would be liquefied and auctioned. By this measurement, we are the furthest in debt of all 50 states.
Record increases in personal and corporate income tax rates have failed to reverse the trend on the state’s balance sheet – debt continues to grow daily. State government spending still unconscionably outpaces revenue.
This situation is shameful.
I am cutting my budget and asking the state legislature to statutorily enact the action. I am reducing the general revenue operations funding for the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office to a level less than that of a decade ago. Will this cut dig the state out of debt? Of course not. But as a businessman coming off a 25-year career in the private sector, I have performed a careful analysis of my office’s budget – including input from an independent, volunteer, performance audit committee – and I have identified common sense ways to reduce the amount of money we spend.
