Will County Gazette

 Republican Congressional candidate Mike Fricilone laments nothing being advertised about Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s progressive tax proposal strikes him as what meets the eye.

“It’s not about voting for a tax as much as it is setting the stage to allow the legislature to do whatever they want with a tax,” Fricilone told the Will County Gazette. “Under the guidelines being proposed, they can raise the tax anytime they want and it could even open things up for them to start taxing retirement income.”

Running against Democrat Marie Newman in the 3rd Congressional District, Fricilone argues voters have every reason to be skeptical of any plan coming out of Springfield that dares to ask taxpayers for even more of their hard-earned money.

With veteran state Sen. Terry Link (D-Indian Creek) also becoming the fourth Democratic lawmaker who strongly backs the plan to now find themselves facing criminal charges, Marter argues there clearly are other reasons why taxpayers should reject the proposed tax like the plague. Facing tax evasion charges, Link joins former state Rep. Luis Arroyo, who faces up to 10 years in prison, and state Sen. Tom Cullerton, who has been hit with 41-count indictment on embezzlement charges. One-time state Sen. Martin Sandoval has already plead guilty to taking $250,000 in bribes from SafeSpeed, a red-light camera vendor.

And then there is longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan, who finds himself implicated in an ongoing federal corruption probe involving ComEd in which its alleged bribes were steered to several of his close associates as part of a pay-to-play scheme aimed at currying favor with him.

“You have to ask yourself if you really want more people like those that are being indicted controlling more of your hard-earned money without being able to ask any questions about it,” Fricilone added. “I don’t think anyone should be comfortable with that, especially when it’s coming at a time when so many people are already struggling with everything going on with the coronavirus. It really just doesn’t make much sense.”