President Chuck Norton chaired the meeting commencing at 12:16.
Guests: We did not have any special guests other than our speaker, Steve Rauschenberger.
David Birkenstein offered the Thought for the Day: “Thank goodness that we live in this wonderful nation.”
Announcements:
President Norton: David Grant was not able to attend today, but wanted to remind everyone that agencies can fill out applications on-line now for a community grant from our Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Foundation.
President Norton: David Grant was not able to attend today, but wanted to remind everyone that agencies can fill out applications on-line now for a community grant from our Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Foundation.
Robert Mardirossian: Robert will be making membership phone calls over the next 3 weeks
Rich Lally: Thank you all for your Operation Warm Donations. We will be ordering
coats on October 31. Please send in your donations by check to the Club Address. Make the checks out to WNRCF and place in the memo line “Operation Warm.” Alternatively, you can donate on-line using the link on our website. Each $18 donation buys a warm coat for a child that really needs it for this winter.
We did not have either happy bucks or Dig and Grin today.
Today’s speaker: John Thomas introduced Steve Rauschenberger. Steve was a former State Senator from 1992-2007. As a Senator, he was chair of the Appropriations and Budget Committees.
Steve’s topic was the Opposing View on the “Fair Tax Amendment.”
Our 1970 State Constitution authorized an income tax but gave all the citizens of Illinois the protection of a one rate system. A number of other states that had progressive systems are moving towards a one flat rate system. Taking this protection out of the Illinois Constitution is handing a blank check to the politicians to tax our most productive citizens. As shown in Connecticut and New York, those citizens can easily leave Illinois and move to Wisconsin and Indiana and other states where the taxes will be lower. As the system currently exists, 35% of the tax revenue is paid by the top 2% of wage earners.
Illinois citizens are already among the most highly taxed citizens of our country (when all taxes are considered), yet Illinois still has enormous budget problems. Our pension plans are so underfunded that even if all the revenue raised by Illinois over the next 5 years was poured into the pension plans, those plans funding rate would only be moved from 47% to 72%. The Fair Tax Amendment is not a solution, it is only a Band-Aid. It will not fix Illinois’ problems.
Illinois needs a comprehensive solution to its financial problems which must include pension reform and other budget cuts as well as revenue raising. If people perceive a tax system as fair, they will participate. If they perceive the tax system as unfair, they will not participate—they will work harder to avoid the taxes or simply leave the State of Illinois.
As the Illinois politicians have proven time and time again since the Democrats obtained control of both the House and the Senate, “Trust Me” will not generate a solution to Illinois’ financial problems. The Illinois politicians and the Fair Tax Amendment are like a teenager with a 12 pack of beer asking for the keys to the car.