SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois finally has a new budget after going two years without one. Now it has to pay its outstanding bills.
The Democratic-controlled Legislature’s vote last week to create a $36 billion framework over Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s vetoes ended the nation’s longest fiscal stalemate since at least the Great Depression. At the core of the budget was a $5 billion income tax increase.
But the state has $14.7 billion in past-due bills. That’s because unchecked “autopilot” spending outstripped incoming revenue by $600 million a month during the budget stalemate.
The tax increase also does nothing to directly address the haunting, $130 billion shortfall in pension obligations to retired and current state workers.
