Quinn: New taxes needed to fix budget

AURORA — Gov. Pat Quinn said Thursday that a tax increase he proposed earlier in the year would be the best way to help the Fox Valley's social services, some of whom have not received any state money in five months.

The state is now $4.2 billion behind in paying its bills, according to Comptroller Dan Hynes, who is challenging Quinn in next year's election. Without that money, many local social service agencies will have to severely cut back on the care they provide, and some may have to shut their doors entirely.

Speaking after an event in Aurora where he collected Mayor Tom Weisner's endorsement, Quinn chided Hynes, one of the most vocal critics of the state's late payment, for not supporting the tax increase the governor proposed as part of his 2010 budget earlier this year. That plan, he said, would have mitigated the state's roughly $11 billion budget deficit.

Quinn's budget would have raised the state income tax by 50 percent. His plan failed to pass the House in May. A second tax increase proposal passed the Senate, but has not been given a House vote. Quinn eventually removed the tax hike from his 2010 budget.

In the short term, Quinn said, he will sign this week a proposal to bring in billions in matching funds from Washington, D.C., and would work to grow jobs — the No. 1 way, he said, to get the state's economy back in shape. He touted the more than 40,000 jobs expected to be created by the state's capital projects bill, passed earlier this year.

But when asked how the state budget situation could be fixed without a tax increase, Quinn said, "You could pray for manna from heaven."