Gov: Tax hike for education, billions in spending cuts :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES ::

Gov: Tax hike for education, billions in spending cuts :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES ::

Uncorking a risky election-year gambit, Gov. Quinn on Wednesday proposed a 33 percent increase in the state income tax to avoid "sacrificing the future of a generation of children."

Quinn's push to hike the tax on Illinois workers' paychecks from 3 percent to 4 percent came with a promise to devote all of the $2.8 billion in new annual revenues to education, staving off the $1.3 billion in cuts the governor aimed at the state's schoolchildren and university students if the tax hike doesn't materialize.