Green Party Governor Candidate Whitney Campaigns in C-U

Gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney says the other candidates for governor may have parts of the solution to Illinois' fiscal problems --- but only he has the full package. The Green Party candidate commented during a campaign stop in Champaign-Urbana Thursday.

Whitney told a gathering of University of Illinois students that Governor Quinn is right to support a state income tax increase --- but he says such an increase should be modeled after past proposals for education funding reform.

"It's not just an income tax increase", says Whitney. "You have to provide protections for lower and middle income class earners, so that they're not actually paying the higher tax, in order to make our system more progressive. You also have to provide property tax relief to the people as part of the package. And you have to give voters some assurance that this extra revenue you're raising is going to be going to our schools."

Whitney says Quinn's promises to protect lower and middle income earners under an income tax hike are too vague. And while he supports cuts in spending, Whitney says Republican Bill Brady's call for across-the-board cuts is too crude.

Whitney also supports a tax on financial transactions ... and creation of a state bank like North Dakota's, to finance state spending projects. Whitney first outlined his budget plan in March, but says the news media focused mainly on one proposal --- to legalize and tax marijuana.