Illinois Running Out of Time to Put Millionaires Tax on Ballot

The clock is running out on a legislative plan that would ask Illinois voters to approve a 3% tax on annual income above $1 million.

Illinois could have become the third state to layer a new surtax on millionaires this year, but the proposal stalled in the Democrat-led legislature. Both Maine and Washington have enacted such taxes in the past month. Massachusetts implemented a 4% surtax on annual household income exceeding $1 million in 2023.

Legislation putting a constitutional question to Illinois voters this fall would have to pass six months before the Nov. 3 election. On that timeline, both the House and the Senate would have to approve a joint resolution for a constitutional amendment by May 3, but the House isn’t scheduled to meet again until May 5. The proposal is effectively dead unless there is a last-minute push to call House members back to the state capitol in Springfield, Ill., to pass the resolution, a senior legislative staff member told Bloomberg Tax.

Former Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who has championed the “millionaires tax” proposal, called the timing “disappointing.” Illinois voters supported the concept two years ago.

“Massachusetts has it, the state of Washington passed one this year, and so did Maine,” Quinn said in an interview. “It’s happening all over the country. Illinois legislators have to catch up to where the voters are, and the voters in Illinois are for a millionaire amendment.”

More than 60% of voters approved a non-binding advisory question in 2024 that asked whether the constitution should be amended to permit a 3% surcharge on income greater than $1 million to raise funds for property tax relief. The vote was purely advisory and didn’t do anything to change the constitution, which limits Illinois to a flat-rate income tax system.

The state’s flat personal income tax rate is pegged at 4.95%. Corporations are taxed at a 7% flat rate, plus a 2.5% personal property replacement tax, which is paid by corporations, partnerships, S-corps and utilities.

Votes Fell Short

The Illinois House came close to advancing the constitutional question under Joint Resolution 21 last week. The resolution was slightly different from the advisory vote, specifying that revenue collected be split equally between property tax relief and education funding. The House Revenue and Finance Committee approved the resolution April 21, but it failed to get a vote in the full chamber. There is no similar proposal in the Senate.

House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch (D), who supports the constitutional amendment, acknowledged he didn’t have the votes to move the measure forward in a meeting with reporters April 22, according to a staff member. Resolutions for a constitutional question must be approved by three-fifths of lawmakers—71 in the House and 36 in the Senate.

Illinois Democrats have strong majorities in both chambers, but Welch said some in his caucus were reluctant to back the resolution.

The Illinois Economic Policy Institute estimated a 3% surtax on millionaires would affect 41,000 taxpayers in the state and generate $3.8 billion during its first year. That total would ramp up to $4.2 billion by 2030.

“They fell a few votes short, but I think it’s a real missed opportunity,” said Bob Bruno, one of the authors of the study and a professor at the University of Illinois School of Labor and Employment Relations. “The November election is expected to pull in progressives, and we have that non-binding resolution on top that shows people support this by high percentages.”