Burzynski Reponds to Budget Plan

February 20th, 2008 at 05:23pm Aaron Chambers

Burzynski’s press release:

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Responding to the governor’s budget address on Wednesday, State Senator Brad Burzynski (R-Clare) said that as a state with the largest debt in its history, the people of Illinois deserve better than continuing a tradition of irresponsible spending. 

“When you have a fiscal situation as dire we’re facing, you have to show restraint in spending,” Burzynski said. “To put the state back on track, we have to stop spending money that’s not there. We’re capable of a better budget than this.”

Despite acknowledging the state’s 2008 budget is $750 million out of balance, Governor Rod Blagojevich continued to push for more spending, borrowing, taxes and selling of state assets in the upcoming fiscal year while putting additional burdens on Illinois businesses. The governor’s budget included $917 million in tax hikes, $21.5 billion in borrowing and selling up to $12 billion of taxpayer-owned assets.

Burzynski said the governor’s plan to push ahead with a $2 billion healthcare increase isn’t the answer.

“We had the highest backlog of unpaid bills in state history, $1.7 billion according to the Office of the Comptroller,” Burzynski said. “Our first priority must be to eliminate any new spending and program expansions in the budget and stop being a deadbeat government.”

Burzynski also added that the governor and his allies in the Senate should focus on encouraging businesses to flourish – not go out of state. While the governor has proposed a one-time rebate of $300 million for businesses, he wants to hit them with more than $650 million in taxes each year.

“If you really want to secure the financial future of our state, then you need to find ways to add more jobs,” Burzynski said. “And part of that includes encouraging the business community to grow stronger. We shouldn’t be lagging behind our neighboring state in providing our citizens with opportunities.”

Currently, Illinois has lost more than 60,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector during the governor’s tenure and ranks 45th in the nation for job creation. If Illinois had kept pace with the national average for job growth, 213,000 more people would be employed today – meaning more than half a billion dollars from natural sales and income tax revenue growth. 

“This is an important time to move Illinois forward,” Burzynski said. “In the past we have worked to find solutions, but we can’t do this alone.”

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