Gov. Bruce Rauner says he will propose reversing last year's income tax increase in a "step-down" process that will cover several years.
Rauner pledged the rollback Monday when asked about how he would pay for more than $2 billion in state spending that never received appropriation authority from the General Assembly.
Comptroller Susana Mendoza's first monthly report on the state's pile of overdue bills revealed that the state will spend $2.3 billion in the fiscal year that ends June 30 that was never appropriated in law.
The Republican governor gives a budget address next month. He says Democrats in the Legislature who increased income taxes from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent last summer over his veto also approved a budget with too much spending.
Rauner says he will back that tax hike down over "a few years" and cut "wasteful spending in government" to close the gap.
