Bill Brady, Illinois Governor Candidate On Budget: Can't Cut Our Way Out, Won't Raise Taxes
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One thing is for sure: Bill Brady is against raising taxes.
On Thursday, as Gov. Pat Quinn rolled out new budget proposals to close the state's massive budget deficit -- some say it could reach $13 billion -- Brady, his likely Republican opponent, lambasted him for proposing a tax increase as part of his solution. "The governor is out in left field here. I mean, he's completely out of line. People are struggling in Illinois," Brady said, adding that "this is absolutely the wrong time to increase the tax rate."
But when he was asked in an interview in Springfield on Thursday how he would solve the problem, he acknowledged that "you can't cut yourself out of $10 to $13 billion."
If you can't balance the budget with cuts, and you refuse to raise new revenues, then how exactly do you do it?
"We have to create a budget that's reconciled, deconstruct it and reconstruct it, meeting our priorities, living within our means, but also providing a surplus so we can pay off the backlog of unpaid bills."
Yes, a surplus. Brady is proposing that by deconstructing and reconstructing the budget, some $15 billion in expenditures -- nearly half the state's annual operating budget -- will disappear, leaving the state with money to blow.
A puzzled interviewer asked Brady how one would do that.
"Well, you do it the way businesses and families have done it. Every business and every family has had to deconstruct and reconstruct and reconcile its spending within its means."
Hopefully, the state senator can come up with a clearer stance on the monumental budget crisis as it looms over November's statewide elections.
Watch the full interview here. For Brady's opposition to tax increases, start at the beginning. For Brady on deconstructing and reconstructing, start at 2:50.
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First Posted: 04/28/10 06:12 AM ET Updated: 05/25/11 04:40 PM ET