Illinois Cuts Budget Deficit Forecast to $3B from $5.5B (1)

Illinois’s budget deficit for the next fiscal year is projected to be $3 billion, down from an earlier estimate of $5.5 billion, after the economy fared better than expected during the pandemic, Governor J.B. Pritzker’s office said in a statement on Tuesday.

• The gap for the 2022 budget year, which begins in July, is projected to be lower after the governor called for the state to pay off $700 million in borrowing from the Federal Reserve early and “the economy performed more strongly than expected,” according to the emailed statement.
• The governor’s proposal includes “no tax increase” but intends ...