WATCH: Senate Dems: ‘We in Illinois need to tax’

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Illinois Senate Democrats are pushing for higher taxes on digital advertising, billionaires and corporations.

At the Illinois Capitol this week, senators announced their plans for new legislation and said corporations are not paying what they owe.

State Sen. Robert Martwick, D-Chicago, said Illinois has one of the most crushing tax burdens in the United States.

“If you live in Illinois, you pay a greater percentage of your income in taxes than almost anyone of any income stratus anywhere in the country. That’s not right,” Martwick said during a press conference on Wednesday.

Martwick has served in the state legislature since 2013.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has repeatedly called for progressive revenue from Springfield.

During press conference with activists and fellow Senate Democrats on Wednesday, state Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, said tech billionaires make a ton of money on advertising.

“What we need is a digital ad tax. We need to take the money from these ultra-rich billionaires and make it so less people have to go to a food pantry, make it so a safety net hospital is able to stay open, make it so people have comfort and a roof over their head,” Peters said.

Democratic senators also proposed taxes on billionaires and corporations, plus the closure of tax loopholes.

Last month, state Rep. Hoan Huynh, D-Chicago, filed the Billionaire Hedge Fund Fee Act. House Bill 4366 imposes a fee on each “covered transaction” occurring on or after July 1, 2026.

Sen. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago, blasted President Donald Trump’s administration for slashing the budget and referred to federal immigration law enforcement officers as “masked monsters.”

“So we in Illinois, need to be the adults in the room, right? We in Illinois need to tax those corporations and those billionaires,” Villa said.

State Sen. Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet, was asked how lawmakers could implement their tax measures without driving businesses out of Illinois.

“The answer is how can we not. The economy, it’s not going to keep working if we give all of our money away to the rich. That’s not our labor force,” Ventura said.

On Thursday, Illinois Senate Republican Leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove, said Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s budget could include spending reductions like last year, when the state rolled back health care funding for undocumented working-age residents.

“That was something that the governor, in his budget address, readily admitted, that it was a mistake to go down that road and the state could not afford that,” Curran said.

Curran noted that the budget for fiscal year 2026 was still $2 billion higher than it was the previous year.

Illinois state spending has increased 43% under Gov. Pritzker, an increase of $16 billion annually since 2019.

Curran said Pritzker would give his budget address for fiscal year 2027 on Feb. 18 and he planned to meet with the governor the day before.

Greg Bishop contributed to this story.

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