A few months ago, JB and I met a woman named Emily from Waterloo. She’s a union construction worker, raising two children on her own. She’s doing everything she can to give her children the best life possible, but it’s not easy and our tax system isn’t making it any easier.

Under Illinois’ tax system, Emily pays the same tax rate as Bruce Rauner. She pays the same tax rate as JB Pritzker. JB and I want to change that. We want to bring a fair tax to Illinois that lowers taxes on working families and gives much needed relief to people like Emily. A fair tax will mean the vast majority of Illinoisans pay less in taxes while the wealthy pay more.

Thirty-four other states already have a fair tax in place, but not Illinois. Instead, working families have carried the burden, making us the most unfair state with an income tax. That’s unacceptable.

And the simple truth is, Bruce Rauner doesn’t think that he should pay more than working families. Now, he will distort that truth in his ads and in his op-eds, but independent fact checkers agree: Rauner’s campaign is not being up-front with their claims about the fair tax. And over the last four years, instead of working to improve the lives of middle class families in Illinois, he leaned into his special interest, anti-union agenda and forced a two-year budget crisis on the people of this state. He decimated our social safety net, slashed spending for education, and wasted $1 billion in fees on late bill payments. I haven’t been in Springfield long, but I’ve been there long enough to know this governor has failed, and it’s time for a change.

JB and I are running a campaign to put Springfield back on the side of working families and a fair tax is central to that mission.

With a fair tax, we can have the state invest more in public education while ending our overreliance on local property taxes. We can get students from pre-k through college the resources they need to succeed, no matter their zip code, their parent’s income, or the color of their skin.

A fair tax will also allow us to make smart investments in community programs that give children and families in communities that have been ignored for too long the tools they need to build better lives. We can invest in infrastructure and help entrepreneurs start and expand their small businesses. These critical investments will help unlock the incredible potential in every corner of Illinois, create jobs, and build an economy that works for all of us.

Finally, a fair tax will help fix our state’s finances. Illinois’ problems didn’t begin with Bruce Rauner, but his crisis-driven agenda drove us off a fiscal cliff. Because of his two year budget crisis, our state’s credit rating is barely above junk status and our bill backlog has skyrocketed. As Illinoisans, we are literally paying the price for Bruce Rauner’s failure every day. A fair tax will move our state forward from the destruction that has defined Bruce Rauner’s administration.

For too long, working families in Illinois have been overlooked and left behind. It’s time to turn the page and bring the investment all of our families need to succeed. A fair tax will help make that a reality and JB and I are ready to bring real change to Illinois.

State Rep. Juliana Stratton is the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor of Illinois.