SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — State representatives left Springfield Thursday without passing a plan for a millionaire tax constitutional amendment question. The effort came up short after business groups and moderate Democrats raised concerns.

Sponsors and advocates hoped to create a 3% surcharge on the income taxes of millionaires to provide property tax relief for families and schools.

Recent data from the Illinois Department of Revenue shows the state has over 77,000 millionaires who make up 1.2% of income taxpayers.

Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) said the state could use 50% of the revenue collected to provide direct relief to taxpayers and the other half would be distributed to school districts on a per pupil basis.

"This will make Illinois schools better," Ford said. "It will make Illinois stronger by making sure we can invest in our schools and provide property tax relief to families."

Leaders from the Illinois Manufacturers Association and Taxpayers Federation of Illinois opposed the idea, as they argued the constitutional amendment would hurt small businesses and shrink the state's tax base.

"The majority of businesses pay taxes under the individual tax rate," said IMA President and CEO Mark Denzler. "22,000 companies, according to the IRS, have revenue of $1 million or more, meaning they're going to see a 61% increase in their income tax rate. At the same time, there's no guarantee that companies will get a property tax break."

House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 21 passed out of the House Revenue and Finance Committee on a partisan 13-7 vote Tuesday. However, House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch said it was clear his caucus was not ready for a floor vote.

"Part of doing this job right and getting to positive results like we got to today is listening to people," Welch told reporters Wednesday. "What we heard from listening to a lot of people over the past few days is that more work needs to be done. We're committed to doing that work."

Welch said he still hopes to see a millionaire's tax approved by both chambers some day.

The referendum will not be on the November ballot, as both chambers needed to approve the question by May 3 and the House won't return to Springfield until after that deadline.

"To turn their backs on property taxpayers would be very disappointing," said former governor Pat Quinn. "That's not what the people want. The people have spoken, and it's time for the elected officials to respond." 

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