About that Illinois budget: Something? Anything? Thanks for nothing?

Something’s better than nothing, right? There’s got to be give and take in politics, right?

Yes, and if the deal is balanced, neither side is entirely happy or entirely upset.

But here’s a reminder to the folks in Springfield as they close in on what may be the first budget in 18 months: Don’t forget about the folks paying for your deals and your salaries.

First off, remember that we already gave you $25 billion to “fix” the state’s budget mess. When that 5 percent boost in the income tax rate expired we were in worse shape than before we gave you all that new money.

Last week the deal included a 4.95 percent income tax rate hike from the current 3.75 percent. More recently the deal has been 5.25 percent or greater, plus a sugary drink tax plus borrowing to gain ground on our $11.2 billion in overdue bills and $130 billion pension deficit.

Plus, Illinois is lagging in its economic recovery. The whole point of the budget stalemate was to force reforms that would grow jobs and add taxpayers to share the burden. In a weak economy, tax increases have a greater drag on recovery. Illinois was already at the bottom of the nation for burdening residents with an average $7,836 in state and local taxes in 2016 — and that was with the 3.75 percent state income tax rate.

Planning to do something with a property tax freeze? Well, it should be for more than two years or those gains will be lost when it expires, and when you’ve cleared your next election.

Something may be better than nothing, but not at any cost. Make a balanced deal.

This story was originally published January 23, 2017 at 7:00 PM with the headline "About that Illinois budget: Something? Anything? Thanks for nothing?."