There’s a crisis unfolding at kitchen tables across Illinois.

It’s the nurse in Rockford trying to figure out if her mother’s assisted living facility will stay open after Medicaid cuts take effect. It’s the father in Peoria deciding between groceries and a utility bill after federal food assistance was slashed. It’s the community college student in the suburbs watching their school get defunded in the middle of a semester.

These are the consequences of a federal budget that has walked away from decades of shared commitment to American families — and handed the damage to states to absorb.

Illinois will lose billions of dollars in federal Medicaid, food assistance and other programs in the coming years. Cut after cut at the federal level is cascading into state budgets, and now it’s Springfield’s responsibility to respond.

Illinois entered this crisis already weakened. It has been asking social service providers to do more with less for years. Our schools are still vastly underfunded. This has happened quietly, in tightened budgets, for a generation.

All the while, some of the wealthiest corporations and individuals have been paying less than their fair share. These are the same corporations that passed along President Donald Trump’s unconstitutional tariffs to consumers, sticking families with the bill while raking in profits.

Plus, Illinois is among the most regressive tax states in the nation.

For example, a minimum wage worker in Chicago pays the same state income tax rate as a hedge fund manager in Lake Forest. When you factor in property and sales taxes, those in the top 1% end up paying about half as much in state and local taxes compared with the bottom 20% of earners. And to top it off, Republicans in Congress have handed those same high earners a new set of tax breaks.

Our tax system in Illinois is broken, asking low- and middle-income folks to shoulder too much of the funding burden. This inequity hobbles our state’s ability to fund high-quality services. Trump’s cuts pour gasoline on a problem that has been worsening for years.

Long term, we need to move to an income tax system that requires the wealthiest to pay their fair share. But urgent action cannot wait for a constitutional fix. That’s why the Affordability and Tax Justice Coalition, a group of more than 40 state lawmakers, has put forward several targeted reforms that would generate the revenue Illinois needs to protect families — without asking working people to chip in one additional dollar.

For example, every time you search, shop or scroll, your personal data is being harvested and sold to advertisers. Technology corporations are generating billions from that transaction. A 10% tax on digital advertising revenue for companies making more than $150 million from those ads would ensure those corporations contribute something meaningful back.

Trump’s budget handed corporations new tax breaks, and because Illinois’ tax system is built upon federal law, those breaks became Illinois breaks too. Legislation is ready to decouple Illinois from that giveaway and reclaim revenue that’s currently being pocketed.

Illinois’ corporate income tax sits at 7%, but could be raised up to 7.92% with no referendum needed. Raising the rate to its legal ceiling is the simplest possible fix. Or, we could require corporations to account for their global profits honestly, stopping the common practice of shifting profits to subsidiaries in low-tax countries to reduce what they owe Illinois.

Finally, many of the richest Illinoisans don’t need a salary because they accumulate wealth through stocks, real estate and investments that go untaxed until sold — which for many billionaires means never. A tax on unrealized capital gains would hold them to the same basic expectations as every working person in the state.

Together, these reforms represent a sustainable answer to Illinois’ growing revenue problem, delivering the resources necessary to fill the budget hole that decades of inaction created and Trump has exploded.

We support finding waste and eliminating it. We support rigorous accountability for every dollar the state spends. But the notion that Illinois can slash its way through this federal funding crisis is not fiscal responsibility. It’s fiscal cruelty dressed up in the language of belt-tightening.

Trump, and the wealthy individuals and large corporations that have underpaid into the state tax system, created this crisis. It is not radical to ask them to pay what they owe.

Working families see this crisis coming. Time is running out — Springfield must act.

State Rep. Nicolle Grasse, D-Arlington Heights, represents the 53rd District. State Rep. Kevin John Olickal, D-Skokie, represents the 16th District. State Sen. Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet, represents the 43rd District. They are members of the Affordability and Tax Justice Coalition.

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