Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn and Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool want to give voters more say over how government taxes and spends. Specifically, they want people to be able to vote on new and existing taxes through ballot referenda.
Dan Sprehe of the watchdog Better Government Association says he supports the plan.
SPREHE: Scandal after scandal, corruption story after corruption story, conviction after conviction- I have a hard time saying voters having more power is a bad thing.
Sprehe says giving voters more power does come with some risks--mainly that some things may take longer to get approved. But Sprehe says, in today's political climate, that's the last thing to worry about.Unlike other states, Illinois law doesn't allow residents to introduce and vote on matters regarding finances.
What a terrifying idea. I don't trust politicians much on finances, but I trust citizens as voters even less. Ballot initiatives, California style, are often all about people wanting to have their cake and eat it to. There's plenty of research that shows that citizens, given no constraints, will always support BOTH tax cuts and service increases, often both catastrophically large. I think there's a reason that California voters have finally gotten into the habit of voting down pretty much every referendum item.
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