Politics

Gov. Blagojevich Says Madigan Has Secret Tax Plan

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) ― Gov. Rod Blagojevich claimed today that Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan may have a secret plan to raise taxes after the November election.

CBS 2's Political Editor Mike Flannery reports that Blagojevich demanded that Madigan, instead, support legislation that would raise new revenue without raising taxes.

"If they're sending a budget that's $2 billion in the red, you can argue what they're trying to do is set up a situation, months from now, after the election, where they would feel they could then justify the tax increase a lot of them have been asking for and the House leadership wants," Gov. Blagojevich said. "Be honest with the people. Be straight with the people. And, if they're not, then I would urge them to pledge to the people that, after the election, they won't raise the income tax and they won't raise taxes on people.

The governor said he could "manage" to cut half-a-billion from the state budget by delaying some payments without big program reductions. But his next step in the budget battle, Rod Blagojevich warned the Ill. House, required legislators to raise $1.5 billion in new revenue or he said, "I will cut $1.5 billion."

A new Chicago casino is a big part of the governor's revenue plan, but Mayor Richard M. Daley sounded ever more doubtful today.

"It's not the pot of gold." Mayor Daley said. "Everybody knows that. I mean, come on. You know the ramifications of gambling. You can see, you know, what great devastation it does to families in areas. We know that. But, like anything else, now it's one of the last revenues.

A spokesman for House Democrats responded to the governor's assertions, saying that speaker Mike Madigan does not have a plan to raise taxes "not this year, not next year."

Although on May 31, Madigan did tell us at a news conference in Springfield that he believes the way the state needs to pay for new programs and new projects that the governor favors, should involve some "pain" for taxpayers, which would imply a tax plan for sure.

The new deadline for budget action appears to be July 9th. The governor says that's when things have to be resolved by, and that is, by coincidence the same day the first state employee paychecks of the new fiscal year are due to go out.

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