East Central Reporter

In a Facebook post on April 10, Rep. Adam Niemerg urged financial relief for Illinois residents.

"The most basic rule of budgeting is that you can't spend more than you take in. Instead of following this simple principle, Democrats have been "balancing" their out-of-control spending by raising taxes. Our residents deserve relief. It's time to rein in state spending, get our fiscal house in order, and finally reduce taxes in Illinois." 

Niemerg shared a link to a report by Capitol News Illinois, "ANALYSIS: Report suggests state spending will soon begin outpacing revenues once again."

"In the highest-spending scenario outlined in the three-year forecast from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, the state could once again face a bill backlog as high as $18 billion," Capital News Illinois wrote. 

The report suggested that there soon wouldn't be enough revenue to keep up with state spending. 

"That estimate assumes spending growth at its five-year average of 7.1 percent," Capitol News Illinois wrote. "If the state keeps spending growth at 1.8 percent – the most austere scenario outlined by the commission – it could maintain an accounts payable balance of $1.4 billion, the same as it was at the end of Fiscal Year 2022."

 Niemerg spoke out against Gov. J.B. Pritzker's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2024 on Feb. 15.

"This governor proposes no significant structural changes to our spending pressures under this budget," Niemerg said. "No permanent property tax relief has been extended, and no regulatory relief has been implemented. His priorities are his ‘woke wish list’ which includes expanding abortions in Illinois and enticing women and girls from other states to come to Illinois for abortions."

Niemerg expressed that community programs have been neglected under the current administration. 

"Everyone can see how poorly run state programs are: our child welfare agency, veterans’ home disease outbreaks, and abuse and neglect at facilities for the developmentally disabled are but a few recent examples under the Pritzker Administration," Niemerg said. "Each of these situations has ended with tragic results."

The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability modeled four scenarios to display the potential deficit. By 2026, the deficit estimates vary between $500 million and $9.1 billion.

"My Republican colleagues and I are here to work," Niemerg said. "We want to make reforms to state government to fund our shared priorities and keep [the] government functioning effectively by living within our means. But that doesn’t mean that Republicans will be willing accomplices in setting up residents for tax hikes to fund new social programs and spending we cannot afford.”

Ultimately, each model showed that the state will spend more money than it takes in over the next three years.