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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, We, the members of the Illinois House of
3 Representatives, are bound by our constitutional oath to
4 "provide for the health, safety and welfare of the people" of
5 Illinois, and we recognize this can best be done by having the
6 lowest possible tax burden and by maximizing the number and
7 diversity of jobs and opportunities in Illinois, to make
8 Illinois competitive, fiscally sound, and economically
9 productive; and
 
10     WHEREAS, A free, stable, and growing economy, low tax
11 rates, and low prices for Illinois consumers, leads to the
12 creation of the maximum number of new Illinois jobs, whereas
13 higher tax rates and higher prices of goods and services for
14 Illinois consumers would actually destroy Illinois jobs; and
 
15     WHEREAS, There are essential public functions that are
16 legitimately filled by government, which derives its just
17 powers from the consent of the governed, including the power to
18 tax the people of Illinois at the minimum rate necessary to
19 fulfill these essential functions; and
 
20     WHEREAS, Whenever Illinois taxes are higher than the
21 minimum needed to carry out essential public functions, that
22 government is moving away from the health, safety, and welfare

 

 

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1 of the people of Illinois, no matter what the motivations are
2 of the people that raise these taxes; and
 
3     WHEREAS, A proposed Gross Receipts Tax may soon be imposed
4 upon all Illinois goods and services sold by the private sector
5 within Illinois at a rate of up to 1.95%; and
 
6     WHEREAS, The proposed tax would be imposed upon all
7 businesses regardless of whether they make a profit, and would
8 fall most harshly upon start-ups, struggling firms, and small
9 businesses; and
 
10     WHEREAS, This proposal is poor tax policy, criticized by
11 economists and economic development experts across the nation
12 as exactly the direction Illinois should not go if we hope to
13 enjoy a growing economy; and
 
14     WHEREAS, This proposed Illinois Gross Receipts Tax, the
15 highest gross receipts tax rate in the nation, would be imposed
16 repeatedly upon the entire value of an Illinois good or service
17 each time it changes hands as it moves through the economic
18 process; and
 
19     WHEREAS, An example of this "pyramiding effect" can be seen
20 in agriculture, Illinois' primary industry, where the seeds,
21 the fertilizers, the farm chemicals, the machinery, and the

 

 

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1 elevator services used by an Illinois grain farmer are all
2 scheduled to be taxed, and the full burden of all of these
3 taxes would be borne by the farmer; and
 
4     WHEREAS, Inputs used by many other Illinois industries and
5 professionals would also be taxed repeatedly under the "pyramid
6 effect"; and
 
7     WHEREAS, Much of the cost of this new tax, if it is
8 enacted, will be indirectly passed on to consumers of Illinois
9 goods and services, thereby creating a significant increase in
10 these costs and giving Illinoisans an incentive to buy
11 elsewhere, thereby destroying more Illinois jobs; and
 
12     WHEREAS, The better-trained a worker is, and the more
13 specialized the work that he or she does, the harsher the tax
14 would be upon his or her workplace; and
 
15     WHEREAS, The proposed Illinois Gross Receipts Tax is
16 precisely what a tax ought not to be in the modern economy,
17 and, if implemented, it would have a destructive effect upon
18 Illinois by repeatedly taxing specialized work and services;
19 and
 
20     WHEREAS, Only five U.S. states currently have a gross
21 receipts tax, and all of them levy this tax at a rate much

 

 

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1 lower than 1.95%, which would be by far the highest GRT tax
2 rate in the nation; and
 
3     WHEREAS, Three of these five states use their (much lower)
4 gross receipts taxes to replace their income tax or their sales
5 tax, rather than trying to implement a gross receipts tax on
6 top of these two other taxes; and
 
7     WHEREAS, The neighboring and comparable State of Indiana
8 repealed its Gross Receipts Tax in 2002 for many reasons
9 including those described here; and
 
10     WHEREAS, House members and motivated local citizens have
11 held hearings throughout Illinois on the proposed Gross
12 Receipts Tax, and testimony and comments have been gathered
13 from a diverse variety of workers, consumers, farmers, and
14 small businesspeople, and the vast majority of these Illinois
15 citizens have told Springfield that they fervently oppose the
16 proposed new tax; therefore, be it
 
17     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
18 NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
19 oppose the Gross Receipts Tax proposed by the Governor of
20 Illinois; and be it further
 
21     RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be presented to

 

 

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1 the Governor of Illinois.