On Tuesday, November 2nd, Illinois voters re-elected incumbent Pat Quinn as Governor by the narrowest margin in three decades. Shortly thereafter, Quinn told the Chicago Tribune that he interprets his reelection as a mandate for an income tax hike. "I think our message of investing in education was supported by the people," Quinn told the Tribune. "I think that is a really strong mandate that I got. I know from the campaign, people made that pretty clear to me, and I think the election returns said the same thing."
While I realize that victorious politicians will engage in a little spin after an election, calling this narrow victory a mandate for a 33% income tax hike sounds a little over the top. Quinn beat his opponent by only about 1% of the total vote cast. In fact, the race was so close that three out of the five top non-partisan political forecasters predicted Quinn would lose. Further, for all the talk of a mandate, Quinn's Democratic party lost six seats in the Illinois House and two seats in the State Senate to the Republicans. Notably, Republican candidates also won elections to the State Treasurer and Comptroller posts.
For all of Quinn's talk about a mandate for an income tax hike, leading members of Quinn's own party do not talk as if there is one. According to the Tribune, Michael Madigan, the powerful Speaker of the Illinois House, has not seen anything to indicate attitudes about an income tax hike have changed among members of his caucus.
Illinois does not need an income tax hike and, contrary to Quinn's belief, there is no mandate for one. Instead of talking about tax hikes, he should take the opportunity that has come with his reelection to focus on finding savings in the state's budget.