(The Center Square) – Taxes are going up for cell phones, tobacco and vaping products, sports betting, bed and breakfasts and more with the new state budget Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed Monday in Chicago.
The $55.2 billion spending plan is the largest spending plan in Illinois history. The plan relies on tax increases and revenue collections, including changes to corporate taxes.
Before signing the package, Pritzker claims they balanced the budget despite pressure from the White House.
“This year that task was made harder by the turbulent national economic conditions and unstable federal funds flow caused by the chaos and the ineptitude of the Trump administration,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker said the “Trump slump” made balancing the budget difficult.
“With rising gas prices across the nation and Trump tariffs taking a bite out of everyone’s wallets, our General Assembly and I are working together to make life more affordable for working families,” Pritzker said.
Meeting with the leader of the G7 Monday, President Donald Trump was asked about immigration enforcement and paused to criticize Pritzker.
“I look at Chicago and you’ve got a really bad governor in Chicago, and a bad mayor, but the governor is probably the worst in the country, Pritzker,” Trump said.
Illinois’ budget ends the Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults, a program a recent audit showed had large cost overruns and reporting errors. The Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors program is for non-citizens over the age of 64.
To pay for increased spending over last year, Illinois’ budget relies on more than $480 million in tax increases on corporate earnings, sports wagering, bed and breakfasts, nicotine and a surcharge on cell phones.
Illinois Senate Minority Leader John Curran said the budget is bad when it’s based on nearly $1 billion in tax increases and other enhancements. He said in a statement that in six years, Pritzker has increased spending by $15 billion, or nearly 40%, and the budget has “no meaningful tax relief for Illinois families” and will continue to hold Illinois back.
Illinois’ budget, and the various tax changes, begins July 1.
