By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – With the economy headed downhill because of coronavirus, there is a new voice against the proposed graduated income tax. A group called the Illinois Business Alliance says the proposed constitutional amendment should be pulled from the November ballot. 

In his daily coronavirus briefing Thursday, Gov. JB Pritzker did not go there, saying this is not a time for politics. “We’re not focusing on legislative initiatives other than on what it will take to provide the health care and the unemployment and the services that people will need in what is going to be an increasingly difficult moment for everybody.”.

“We’re in the midst of a health crisis and an economic crisis,” said Jared Carl, the alliance’s president. “Now is not the time to raise taxes on businesses. People are worried about their jobs, their families, their health care. Tens of thousands of Illinoisans have filed for unemployment. The question has to be asked: How can Gov. Pritzker  propose raising taxes at a time like this?”

Carl started the group – whose members’ names he would not disclose – after being chief of staff at the Illinois Policy Institute.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].