Pritzker signs $53.1B Illinois budget, defends spending with ‘sustainable long-term growth’

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday signed a state spending plan for the coming year, bragging about a sixth consecutive balanced budget “while putting money back in the pockets of everyday Illinoisans.”

The Democrat’s imprimatur formalized a $53.1 billion fiscal outline, which he pointed out is 1.6% more than what the state will spend this year, but which is $12.8 billion, or 32% higher than his first budget in 2019. It’s $400 million more than Pritzker proposed in February.

The latest plan requires new revenue, and there are $725 million in tax increases in sports betting, video gambling and a continued limit on business operating losses to fill the gap for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Pritzker continues to remind taxpayers that he took over from a governor and Legislature that could not agree on a spending plan for two years. His budgets since have reduced tens of millions of dollars in debt, kept woefully underfunded pension contributions on track and built a $2.3 billion balance in the so-called rainy day fund that is a hedge against economic downturn.

“We are on a trajectory of sustainable long-term growth, and this balanced budget boosts us further in the right direction,” Pritzker said at a Chicago news conference. “We achieved all this while putting money back in the pockets of everyday Illinoisans.”

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