At 1:20 AM CT, the Illinois Senate passed a controversial deficit reduction plan to address the massive state red ink. By a vote of 30-29, they increased individual taxes from 3% to 5% and they increased the corporation tax rate from 4.8% to 7%. Now, the effective corporate tax rate is 9.5%. The law is expected to raise $6.5 billion a year. Illinois needs to patch a $15 billion gap in their budget, including $8 billion in overdue bills.

The only significant Illinois spending change was to limit future increases to 2% annually. They skipped a $1 billion a year … …READ MORE