By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD–Both sides of the graduated tax question – up for a vote on the state’s November ballot – were on display during an online forum Wednesday.

Supporters bill the proposed constitutional amendment – which needs sixty percent of those voting on the question, or a majority of everybody voting in the election itself – as a tax increase only for the top three percent of earners. Opponents say it’s just a blank check for state government and warn the legislature will eye a tax on retirement income next.

Former State Sen. Daniel Biss, a Democrat in favor of the graduated tax, said, “The other side likes to say, oh, how dare the legislature come back to try to fix the tax system now, when, in the past, there was a tax increase that didn’t fix everything! Well, I think that the responsible  approach is not to try to fix everything at once with a single change to the tax code.”

Illinois currently levies a 4.95 percent income tax on everyone.

“Now you’re going to hear, well, we need more revenue,” said State Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris), “so we are going down to the next income tax bracket, and then the next income tax bracket.

“That is how Alabama has its highest tax bracket as taxing $3,000 of income.”

Wintrust Bank and the Union League Club put on the event.