ILLINOIS ISSUES ELECTION SURVEY
The issues next year,
Taxes, property tax reform THE BIGGEST issue facing the next General Assembly will be taxes, according to a survey of Cook County candidates for State representative. One-fifth of all Democrats and one-third of all Republicans surveyed picked high taxes, generally, as the most significant problem that will be before the House in the 81st General Assembly. Another 22 per cent of Democrats and 18 per cent of Republicans specifically said property tax reform would be the big issue. The issues of taxes and property tax reform might safely be combined to indicate that most candidates surveyed believe changes in the state revenue system will be the paramount legislative issue next year. Predictably, more challengers than incumbents picked taxes as the big issue, with the most startling difference occurring among Democrats: property tax reform was predicted as the most important issue by only 10 per cent of Democrat incumbents compared to 41 per cent of the Democratic nonincumbent candidates. And taxes generally were named by twice as many Democratic nonincumbents as Democratic incumbent candidates. Out of the welter of issues facing lawmakers, many candidates either believed they could not single out one 24/September 1978/Illinois Issues issue as most significant or would not predict the most important issue so far in advance. Candidates who generally did name an issue were Democratic challengers and Republican incumbents. A minority of incumbents from both parties chose restricted spending as the main issue for next year in the legislature, and few challengers named restricted spending as the big issue. Party affiliation evidently meant little when a candidate named restricted spending since figures were identical for both parties — 17 per cent of incumbent Democrats, 17 per cent of incumbent Republicans; 6 per cent of Democratic challengers and 6 per cent of Republican challengers. As with the previous Senate survey, few Cook County House candidates thought the big issue would relate to social services. The Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ERA was specifically named by 4 per cent of surveyed Cook County House candidates, but ERA was somewhat more important to Republican incumbents, 10 per cent, than to any other group. Quite surprisingly, no incumbent Republican thought business was of highest importance although 10 percent of Democratic incumbents singled out business issues as most important. Business issues are generally a priority with the GOP. The explanation may be that candidates were asked what they expected the big issue to be next session, not what they hoped it would be. Property tax reform A wide range of complex responses were elicited on the question: "What steps need to be taken to reform the property tax system?" Many said the issue is too large and complex for simple answers. Surprisingly few Democrats mentioned the rebate plan backed by their party's nominee for governor, Michael J. Bakalis. Instead, Democratic incumbents talked about making the state pick up the full cost of funding education, while shifting the burden for schools off the property tax. Most Republican incumbents surveyed were behind some sort of freeze or ceiling on taxes and spending. This appears to support Gov. James R. Thompson's advisory referendum on taxes and spending, but Thompson's "Proposition" was not announced until after this survey was closed. Many mentioned Rep. Donald R. Totten's (R., Hoffman Estates) plan to put a ceiling on taxes and spending into the state constitution. A large majority of Republican challengers talked about improving the assessment system, and, in particular, making assessments more equal throughout the state. This idea was also popular with many Republican incumbents and a few Democratic incumbents. Priorities for spending Education is the single most important area of state spending, according to 62 per cent of upstate House candidates surveyed. Fewer House candidates from the 30 legislative districts of Cook County named education, however, than did Senate candidates surveyed (78 per cent). Most of the Senate candidates were surveyed before California's Proposition 13 was passed to reduce property taxes in that state. Most upstate House candidates were contacted after September 1978/Illinois Issues/25
Proposition 13 was adopted, and less enthusiasm for educational spending by upstate House candidates may be attributable to this difference since Illinois' educational system is largely funded with revenues from property taxes. Next month, the Downstate House candidate survey may increase the percentage of all House candidates who give priority to education. Upstate challengers don't seem bent on interpreting taxpayer unrest as a call for cuts in spending for education. Just about as many challengers put education first as do incumbents. Many candidates say the total taxation system needs to be revamped. Funds may be shifted with some of the property tax dollars now spent on education being replaced from another revenue source, if candidate consensus on reforming the property tax culminates in legislative action (see table 1). But candidates appear to believe that taxpayers don't want tax relief at the expense of their children's education.
Choosing education as the most important spending category may well reflect an awareness of state government realities, since lawmakers have more control over how education dollars are spent than over any other major area of the budget. A third of all state dollars are spent for education and, unlike spending for welfare and roads, the federal government does not have much control over how such dollars are spent. Items also named as priorities for spending were transportation and social services (including mental health), but more candidates gave no priority than supported these two areas. The percentage of Democrats favoring social services is higher than Republicans, but not remarkably so, 13 per cent to 7 per cent. No Republican challenger named social services as a priority for spending, although several Republican incumbents did. The spending category "transportation" was given first priority only by Republicans. The Senate survey had this same result. Other priorities mentioned include: corrections, employment, conservation and the Secretary of State's Office. Areas for cuts Most candidates in the survey had difficulty identifying the least important spending category or a general area where cuts might be made. Challengers understandably had a much tougher time answering the question than incumbents. Most Democratic challengers (53 per cent) could not answer the question, and 38 per cent of Republican challengers were similarly perplexed. But only 21 per cent of Democratic incumbents and 24 per cent of Republican incumbents had no answer, proving that upstate House members have some ideas where waste can be found in state government, while those on the outside looking in are less aware of the specific locations. The most popular answer to the question of where to cut was public aid. Most who named public aid said there was waste, mostly tied to recipient abuse, though some also said administrative costs are too high. Those Republican challengers who did respond were extremely critical of public aid. Highway construction was a low spending priority to many incumbent Democrats (21 per cent). Another 10 per cent of incumbent Republicans, and 12 per cent of challenger Democrats agreed. But no Republican challengers talked about roads and highways as areas for possible spending reductions. Other responses were widely divergent, varying from general cuts to specific agencies, offices and commissions.
26/September 1978/Illinois Issues
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
