Illinois is in the works for building new infrastructures with a $41.5 billion budget over the next six years.
State governor J.B. Pritzker plans to rebuild bridges, schools, roads and other facilities that have been in ‘dire shape’. The plan will be called, ‘Rebuild Illinois’ which will not only focus on infrastructure alone but also education, transportation and maintenance of the projects.
For the past 10 years, the state hasn’t made any major capital spending. That’s why Pritzker administration will be utilizing the budget for improving the state.
In an article published by Chicago Business, it is stated that transportation will get the biggest share in the budget, allotting about $28.6 billion. Roads and bridges have separate funding of $23 billion as well as $3.4 billion for mass transit, $442 million for rail decongestion plan and $1 billion for aviation projects.
Following infrastructure, Pritzker also proposed building state universities and local grade and high school districts for $5.9 billion.
Given this massive budget for the Rebuild Illinois, there will be new tax proposed. About $1.8 billion will be generated from higher tax for salaried employees, fuel tax, ride-sharing, cable and streaming services, liquor and video gaming.
The real estate tax would also double, from $0.5 per $500 sales price to $1 for non-residential properties.
Meanwhile, senators like Dave Koehler are supporting the new plan for the state, saying, “We’ve kind of missed the construction season this year. We should have done this in February if we were going to actually be relevant to this year. But it’s important we do it right, we do it thoroughly.”
The Team Pritzker are positive about this project saying that this will put the state ‘on a path toward repair and recovery’. In addition, this project will also generate more jobs for local residents.