Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s cousin gives $500,000 to group opposed to governor’s graduated-rate tax initiative
Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s cousin Jennifer Pritzker donated $500,000 on Tuesday to a group pushing for the defeat of the governor’s signature agenda item on the Nov. 3 ballot — a proposed state constitutional amendment to impose a graduated-rate income tax.
“There is evidence that the tax hike amendment could eventually raise taxes on the middle and working classes. With so many families and small businesses struggling to recover from the ravages of the pandemic, raising taxes is not a financial solution Illinoisans can afford to enact,” said Jennifer Pritzker, like her cousin a wealthy heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune.
Gov. Pritzker, worth an estimated $3.4 billion according to Forbes, has donated $56.5 million to the Vote Yes for Fairness group supporting voter ratification of the proposed amendment, which would replace the state’s mandated flat-rate tax with a tax with varying rates that increase with income.
Jennifer Pritzker, a retired Army colonel and founder and chair of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library in Chicago, is worth an estimated $1.9 billion, according to Forbes. The founder and CEO of private wealth management firm Tawani Enterprises, she came out as a transgender woman in 2013.
Her donation went to the Coalition to Stop the Proposed Tax Hike, a group that has received nearly $48.9 million to fight the proposed amendment. Her contribution is the second largest to the group after the $46.75 million given by Ken Griffin, the founder and CEO of the Citadel hedge fund and investment firm. Griffin is worth an estimated $15 billion according to Forbes.
Jennifer Pritzker has been a donor to Republican candidates and causes over the years, including a donation of $104,000 to Bruce Rauner’s successful 2014 campaign for governor. J.B. Pritzker went on to defeat Rauner four years later.
She also gave more than $110,000 to unsuccessful 2018 Republican attorney general candidate Erika Harold and $6,000 to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s successful 2019 campaign.
The news of the donation came as details were released about a Cook County circuit judge’s decision late last week to reject a lawsuit from the GOP-aligned Illinois Policy Institute that wanted the court to clarify what it contended were “misleading” statements on both state-issued pamphlets about the graduated-rate issue and the ballot.
Judge Celia Gamrath ruled Friday that the policy group challenged the language in October even though it had been public since May
“Plaintiffs waited until October to file suit, after hundreds of thousands of votes had been cast, and ran into court three weeks before Election Day to say there is an emergency that demands affirmative relief on a summary non-evidentiary basis. Not so. Plaintiffs' delay indicates a lack of urgency and suggests their perceived harm is neither immediate nor irreparable,” Gamrath ruled.
“While Plaintiffs have a clear right to a free and equal election, they have not demonstrated a clear right to corrective action on an emergency basis, for it is not patently clear the language on the ballot or pamphlet is so misleading that it abridges a constitutional right in need of protection,” she wrote.
“Like it or not, the proposed amendment does give the state the ability to impose higher tax rates on those with higher income levels and lower income tax rates on those with middle or lower income levels, just as the ballot describes.”
Gamrath said the allegations in the lawsuit “merely conclude and speculate that the language is deceiving and confusing to voters without any specific evidence demonstrating confusion or obstruction to a particular individual or group of voters.”
The lawsuit, filed by the Illinois Policy Institute along with three retirees, contended that the language explaining the amendment would “induce retirees into voting to impose on themselves a tax on retirement income.”
Illinois is one of three states with an income tax that does not tax retirement income. The amendment does not mention and has no effect on taxing retirement income. Lawmakers currently have the power to tax retirement benefits if they choose to do so regardless of the fate of the amendment.
Quentin Fulks, chair of the pro-amendment Vote Yes For Fairness group, said “the Illinois Policy Institute’s frivolous lawsuit was nothing more than a desperate and egregious stunt to try to mislead voters and trick them into thinking the Fair Tax has anything to do with retirement income.”
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