The third installment of Rauner's "Bring Back Blueprint" outlined the candidate's "Jobs and Growth Agenda" and followed up on previous sections that focused on cutting waste and reforming the system for granting tax breaks to large corporations.
1) End the 2011 temporary tax hike
Rauner plans to reduce Illinois income tax rates over four years to 3 percent for individuals and 4.8% for businesses -- the levels of both taxes before the 2011 tax increase raised them to 5 and 7 percent, respectively. They are scheduled to drop to 3.75 percent and 5.25 percent on Jan. 1.
2) Reform the sales tax
To compensate for the state revenue that would be lost by lowering income taxes, Rauner plans to "modernize" the sales tax to include certain non-medical and non-professional services, such as storage, travel agencies, lawyers, and janitorial services, among others.
3) Freeze local property taxes
Noting that Illinois has the second highest property tax rates in the country, Rauner proposes freezing property taxes statewide unless local voters approve an increase through by referendum.
See seven other major points of the plan and Rauner's entire proposal at Reboot Illinois.
As Rauner continues to present his case to Illinoisans about why they should elect him as governor, the investigation into current Gov. Pat Quinn's Neighborhood Recovery Initiative has been delayed. A bipartisan panel chose to hold off the probe for 90 days. It remains to be seen how fully the inquest into the anti-violence program, which some detractors say was a "slush fund," will affect Quinn's reelection efforts.