Blagojevich’s Tax Plan: DOA
Tax May 11th, 2007
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Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan scheduled a rare “committee of the whole” over the last two days to discuss Governor Blagojevich’s tax plan (coverage here and here). The session was called after a majority of the Illinois House signed on to a resolution condemning the tax plan. After two days of testimony the House voted 107-0 to defeat the resolution calling for the plan to be passed.
During the testimony the House heard from the Governor as well as several of his lieutenants. Unfortunately for the Governor, they weren’t loyal to him. Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn, Comptroller Dan Hynes, and Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias all testified against the plan during the hearings.
Shortly before the vote, the Governor called on his allies to vote against the measure saying it was too quick to decide on such an important topic. Of course, since the resolution was going down to an obvious and sound defeat this allowed the Governor to claim a small victory, which he promptly did. His spokesperson said that the tax wasn’t dead despite not getting a single vote because he asked people not to vote for the proposal.
I can’t wait to see the spin that Douglas Kane at Tax Tales (coverage here) puts on the vote (if he even posts about it). I’m sure it will be in lockstep with the Governor (can’t bite the hand that feeds!).