Pritzker promises to veto any budget with ‘broad’ tax increase

CHICAGO, Ill. (WTVO) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday said he would veto any budget proposal that includes “broad-based” taxes that would have a negative impact on working families.

Lawmakers are working to finalize a budget plan in Springfield before a May 31st deadline.

According to WLS, Pritzker was speaking at an unrelated event when he said he would specifically veto any budget that includes tax increases on individuals, corporations, or the sales tax.

“I would veto a budget like that,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker’s FY26 budget proposal put forward a $100 million targeted tax on electronic gambling and casino table games.

State Senators and House Representatives have proposed joint resolutions to raise over $6 billion in new revenue, citing that the state’s current tax system is unfair to low-income residents.

A 2023 poll found that 51% of Illinois residents cited high taxes as the primary reason they’d consider leaving the state.

A recent study showed that Illinois residents pay 10% of their annual income to state and local taxes.

According to the Illinois Policy Institute, the state lost population for nine consecutive years, a trend reversed by an influx of noncitizen migrants in 2023 to 2024, 4.6 times higher than the 2010-2020 average.

However, migrants accounted for 10.7% of the state’s population loss to other states, suggesting that Illinois’s economic conditions may have also affected that trend.