Gov. Bruce Rauner will give the last annual budget address of his four-year term Wednesday. But facing the governor and lawmakers is the state’s unpaid bill backlog of $8.4 billion, according to Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza.
Rauner’s budget director, Hans Zigmund, informed a Senate committee last week that there is also a $1.1 billion bill for “unappropriated liabilities” – money that was spent without an appropriation from lawmakers.
So what will the governor propose to plug that $9.5 billion hole? It won’t be income tax increases. Rauner tweeted in January that he wants to roll back the income tax hike passed last year.
