Health care workers, child care providers and advocates rallied outside the Capitol on Tuesday to protest the votes against an income tax increase cast by Springfield Representatives Raymond Poe and Rich Brauer. Protesters called on the representatives to tell their leader that they are ready to go back to Springfield to stop devastating budget cuts and pass new revenue.

From the State Journal-Register’s Andrew Thomason:

Raise our taxes. Please.

That was the message demonstrators tried to get across Tuesday to two local legislators. About 30 people involved with human services in Illinois gathered outside the state Capitol to demand higher taxes to stop the deep spending cuts Gov. Pat Quinn is threatening.

…

Without higher taxes, the state could lock itself into a downward spiral, advocates contend. People who rely on human services would lose their support net, possibly even their jobs.

Facing unemployment and higher bills, people who once supported the state with income taxes would turn to Medicaid and other taxpayer-funded programs, creating an even larger budget shortfall.

On the other hand, maintaining the current network of human services would save “the state of Illinois a tremendous amount of money,” according to Dave Munroe, independent living specialist at the Springfield Center for Independent Living.

Munroe said that without a change in the budget, SCIL would be forced to cut half its work force, turning taxpayers into state dependents.

Telisa Richards is facing a similar situation. She runs an in-home day care and says that some parents are struggling to pay their share of day care. These parents would no longer be able to afford her services if the state stops making subsidized payments on their behalf.

Without day care, Richards said, parents might have to quit their jobs to watch their children.
“It affects the businesses, the parents and the children, and us as well because we lose our business,” Richards said. “It’s a domino effect.”

Richards and other demontrators met Tuesday with Rep. Raymond Poe, R-Springfield, and Rep. Rich Brauer, R-Petersburg, in an effort to garner support for an income tax increase.

Both Brauer and Poe voted against an increase earlier in the spring.

WAND has footage of the rally:

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