Jiménez Fights to Tax the Rich Amid the Passing of the State Budget

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Amid the conclusion of this legislative session, State Rep. Lilian Jiménez, D-Chicago, fought for a budget that taxes big tech and invests in working class families in Illinois. 

 

“We worked hard to pass a budget that invests in working families at a time when the federal government is choosing to give tax breaks to billionaires and slash Medicaid and food assistance programs,” said Jiménez. “This budget is an important step toward investing in our communities and ensuring working people—not the wealthy few—benefit from our state’s progress. This budget begins to tax corporations and the wealthy but it doesn’t go far enough.”

 

Jiménez joined the Affordability and Tax Justice Coalition earlier this year to pressure the legislature to close corporate loopholes. The partnership between progressive legislators, unions and advocates including the Illinois Revenue Alliance successfully won a digital advertising tax, social media platform fee and began to close the corporate loopholes that Trump created at the federal level. 

 

“I am proud that this budget invests in a new food security program, the FRESH Act, a relief payment for families who will be terminated from food assistance as a result of Trump Administrations’ new SNAP requirements.”

 

We also won funding for Safety Net Hospitals, Federally-Qualified Health Centers & Free and Charitable Clinics to mitigate the chaos being created by Trump’s cuts to Medicaid.

 

Finally, we held the line on programs that our communities rely on such as Access to Justice, the New Americans Initiative, Welcoming Centers, Violence Prevention Programs and Homelessness Prevention Assistance. 

 

“There is still so much work to be done and we have much further to go to meet the needs of everyday, hardworking families,” said Jiménez. “I am disappointed that the Community Care Program was left out of the budget. I will continue fighting to decouple Illinois from all of Trump’s corporate tax cuts so that Illinois can continue to provide essential services and resources like healthcare, childcare assistance and food security.”