By CHARLES N. WHEELER III

Thompson echoes Reagan euphoria

"THERE is renewed energy and optimism throughout the land. America is back, standing tall." — President Ronald Reagan State of the Union address.

"Illinois is leaving that long, tiring four-year march down the road of recession. . . . The sacrifice in increased income taxes made by our people can come to an end." — Gov. James R. Thompson, State of the State address.

In an election year, upbeat rhetoric and rosy forecasts are to be expected from a president seeking another term and from those who support him. But the performances by Reagan and Thompson, his No. 1 Illinois cheerleader, were anything but happy for the half million Illinoisans who are out of work and the one in 10 receiving welfare benefits. Instead, they portend for the impoverished a continued struggle for survival on the margins of a plentiful society, while the governor and the General Assembly measure every issue and each vote by the yardstick of political ambition.

That the less fortunate among us are somehow invisible to the White House has long been suspected. Now Thompson and most lawmakers seem to be suffering from this malady, too. Politically, that's to be expected; in human terms, it's a shame.

Granted, it would be awkward for the governor, the chairman of the Reagan reelection effort in Illinois, to acknowledge that this state and its people are still hurting, despite the free enterprise miracles purportedly worked by the president. That's what a Thompson decision to seek an extension of higher income tax rates would have signalled, particularly if some of the added revenue were earmarked for the first cost-of-living adjustment in welfare grants since 1981. Far easier for the governor to urge Illinois to "get down to business," looking ahead to a bright future of higher revenues and tightly controlled spending, and not utter a single State of the State word about human services. After all, his president's administration claims it has yet to see hard evidence of hunger in America and suggests people are homeless because they like sleeping in gangways.

Nor should you expect too much enthusiasm for continuing higher taxes from legislative leaders and rank-and-file members with an eye on the ballot box.

But whatever fantasies blossom on the Potomac's banks, and even though it's an election year, these are some examples of the stark facts of life in Illinois:

Doctors and nurses at Cook County Hospital document how poor nutrition is creating serious medical problems, especially for infants, pregnant women and the aged.

Mayor Harold Washington compares Chicago's estimated 25,000 homeless to the untouchables of Calcutta, "sleeping in streets and alleys and abandoned automobiles" because the city's emergency shelters are jammed.

Illinois Comptroller Roland W. Burns reports the poor in Illinois are relatively worse off today than 10 years ago because the federally calculated poverty level has risen faster than state welfare benefits.

And it's not just a Chicago problem — welfare rolls are growing faster downstate than in Cook County, says Illinois Public Aid Director Gregory L. Coler.

Expecting political leaders to respond courageously to such suffering — and trusting voters to accept the response — shouldn't be asking too much. Without a cost-of-living increase for welfare grants, for example how can Thompson's proposed budget be considered compassionate or decent, as he describes it?

As for voter reaction, after the persuasive case made by the governor for last year's tax hike, there have been few complaints from the citizenry in its wake.

This year, the most obvious solution is to continue the 20 percent increase in individual and corporate income tax rates beyond its scheduled June 30 demise, which would produce an estimated $500 million, more than enough to improve welfare grants and provide healthy boosts for education, mental health and other vital programs. This notion is dismissed by Thompson and skittish legislators, who argue it would not "keep faith" with voters who were promised the tax increase would self-destruct.

Initially last year, though, the governor wisely sought a permanent income tax increase to permit Illinois to weather the fundamental changes occurring in its economy. The temporary increase finally agreed upon rested or the expectation that the fruits of recovery would preclude the need for the higher rates by midsummer. Thus far, it hasn't.

If full-fledged extension seems too bold — and perhaps it is, in an election year — surely some alternative can be found that at least would provide a cost-of-living increase for the 900,000 Illinoisans, more than half of them children, receiving welfare grants Public aid officials say a 5 percent increase in monthly checks would cost about $50 million at current caseload levels. That amounts to about $7.35 a year or two cents a day more from each of the state's 6.8 million individual tax-payers. It's a small sacrifice to make for those of us who pay taxes so that our less fortunate neighbors can share, albeit marginally, in the election-year euphoria being preached in Illinois by the Reagan-Thompson team.

2/April 1984/Illinois Issues