Before they were asked to choose their President or their Senator, first time and more experienced Parker voters alike were asked to weigh in on a contentious, local issue – a progressive income tax in Illinois. Called the “Fair Tax” by its supporters, this ballot initiative attempted to amend the Illinois constitution and remove the flat tax rate, needing 60% to pass. However, it failed to gain more than 47% of the vote according to totals reported by the Associated Press, making Illinois one of only eight states with a flat tax rate.

Upper School History Teacher Andrew Bigelow taught his students in the Elections 2020 course about the proposed progressive income tax, bringing in representatives of the grassroots organization ‘Vote Yes for Fairness,’ a liberal-leaning group based primarily in the North Shore. Their opposition group, The Coalition to Stop The Tax Hike Amendment, did not return Bigelow’s numerous invites to speak to his students, though some reached out to the group separately.

Bigelow compared the flat rate to the progressive income tax. “If you make $100,000, you pay 4.96%,” Bigelow said. “If you make $10,000 a year, you pay 4.96%, or 10 million a year. Unlike the federal government where we have a graduated income tax: the more you make, the more you can afford, the more you pay.”

The constitutional amendment on the ballot would remove the mandate in Illinois that all personal income is taxed at a “flat rate.” Once this was removed, a previously-passed 2019 law (Public Act 101-008) would have gone into effect in January, taxing the income of millionaires at a rate of 7.99%. Those with incomes of $250,000 or lower, on the other hand, would be taxed either at or below the current 4.95% flat rate. 

With this increase, about 0.3% of tax filers in Illinois would pay a collective $2.8 billion to the state over time, according to reporting from WTTW.

Senior Grace Conrad is a first-time voter in Bigelow’s class who’s in favor of the tax. “I think it’s really disappointing that it didn’t pass. I think it’s 100% good. and it’s a step in the right direction for income inequality.” 

Bigelow found the wording on the ballot cryptic and difficult to understand. “This doesn’t sound at all like what the folks were talking about when they came to talk to our kids,” Bigelow said. “I was actually kind of worried about my few kids who could vote, whether they were thinking the same thing I did.”

“I’m convinced that a huge reason it did not pass, was because of the way it was worded on the ballot,” Conrad said. “Even though I was extremely knowledgeable on the fair tax bill, when I got my ballot, I didn’t even understand that it was asking about the constitution in order to have a tax amendment.”

Now that the ballot initiative has failed, Illinois still has to balance its budget. According to the “Chicago Tribune,” Governor and Parker parent J.B Pritzker has prepared for cuts to discretionary spending such as education and social services, an increase on the current flat-rate income tax, or a combination of the two strategies. 

“If you live in a property-rich tax town like Winnetka, you’re going to get fierce money for your teachers and your school,” Bigelow said. “If you live in a rural part of Illinois where property is not that expensive, they don’t have that tax base to build a really fierce police station or fire station. The anti-fair tax folks said, ‘True, all right, valid points. But why do you have to put it on the backs of the people who are making the most? Why should we be hit harder than others?’”

According to the “Chicago Tribune,” Pritzker, who is worth about $3.4 billion, spent $58 million of his own fortune to try and get the amendment passed. During his gubernatorial campaign, the so-called “Fair Tax” was a centerpiece of Pritzker’s platform. 

Pritzker’s opposition was also well-funded by Illinois billionaires, including his own cousin. Colonel Jennifer Pritzker ‘68, who spoke at Parker last year during a Morning Exercise, is one of the billionaire donors in opposition to the progressive income tax. Jennifer Pritzker contributed $500,000 to the Coalition to Stop The Tax Hike Amendment, according to campaign finance disclosures. 

CEO of Citadel Ken Griffin, currently the richest resident of Illinois, gave around $53.74 million to the Anti-Tax coalition, basically matching the governor’s contribution. Money from both groups went towards a blitz of posters, television advertisements, and flyers. Bigelow gave his class equal access to materials from both groups, which he used as the basis for this lesson.

Bigelow noted that at a private school with an Upper School tuition of $37,840, some families would be directly affected by an increased income tax rate. “There are some parents at Parker,” Bigelow said, “who would have to pay a little bit more, I’ll phrase it that way.”

He speculated that parents may have influenced the opinions of his students. “They all thought they were kind of in favor of this, a lot of them, and then they went home and talked to their parents,” Bigelow said. “They came back the next day a little bit conflicted.”

Senior Elliot Landolt, a student in Bigelow’s Election Course, was opposed to the tax initiative and discussed it with both his parents. “My mom supported the fair tax and my dad didn’t,” Landolt said via email. “This election, in general, has led to many hard talks between family and friends alike and I always want to keep an open mind in these, understanding that the people I speak with care as much about their opinion as I do.”

Senior Olivia Hanley, another student in the class, did outside research on the tax and encouraged both of her parents to vote for it, though she cannot do so herself. “I definitely understand that people are wary of it just because if you are over a certain income bracket,” Hanley said. “There are a bunch of billionaires within our state who are heavily against it and who are pouring money into the effort to stop it.”

However, Hanley was ultimately in support of the amendment. “I’m a type of person who’s more for the good of the whole over the individual,” Hanley said. “I think that it would bring a lot of relief, in terms of infrastructure and health care and education and human services.”

Landolt disagreed. “Living in Illinois and Chicago we are overtaxed as is,” Landolt said. “One pivotal moment for this was when the rep from the Fair Tax said that the fair tax could only reduce the taxes of a person by $20 dollars in some cases. This, to me, doesn’t seem effective. It also punishes small businesses and hurts employers. Raising taxes on family farmers and small business owners won’t help our state.”

Though not all students in the class agreed on whether the tax should be passed, Bigelow framed the ballot initiative as an important part of the democratic process. In Illinois, you need signatures equal to 8% of the total votes cast in the last gubernatorial election to get your citizen-initiated measure on the ballot. 

Other significant ballot initiatives passed this election cycle included the decriminalization of hard drugs in Oregon, a new state flag in Mississippi, and an amendment in Louisiana establishing that nothing in their constitution grants a right to abortion. “That’s how you as a common citizen can make a difference,” Bigelow said. “If you want to propose an idea, go through the process, get the initial signatures, and then work your way to getting on the ballot, you can.”