MARION - Speaking before an overflow crowd at the Marion Cultural and Civic Center Wednesday evening, Gov. Rod Blagojevich delivered an impassioned speech touting his Investing in Families budget plan and asking Southern Illinoisans to support his efforts by contacting their local representatives.

The plan, he said, would provide every Illinoisan with access to affordable health coverage, boost funding for education, provide property tax relief and fix an unfair tax system through his proposed Gross Receipts Tax, which targets corporations, who the governor said have not paid their fair share of taxes in recent years.

"What we're here to talk about is providing health care to all families of our state," Blagojevich said. "We're here to talk about providing $10 billion for our schools over the next four years so that our kids, no matter where they come from, can go to good, quality schools that have the same things in the classroom that kids who come from wealthy neighborhoods have.

"We're here to talk about more than $1 billion in property tax relief," he said. "We're here to talk about making sure we get the revenue we need so that we can build schools and roads, fix bridges and put people to work. And we're here to talk about doing it in a way that is all about fundamental fairness."

Blagojevich said his administration has the opportunity to fundamentally reform the way state government meets its responsibilities so that middle-class and working families are the focus rather than the ones who are expected to assume the largest part of the tax burden.

Blagojevich said it's not fair that the average working person in Illinois pays $1,500 in state income taxes per year, while 12,521 large corporations with gross sales of more than $263 billion have been paying $151 on the average per year.

"All we're asking these corporations to do is pay their fair share," the governor said. "But when we ask them, they marshal up their forces and get their powerful and well-connected lawyers who say they don't think it's right that they should have to pay their fair share."

The governor said he's engaged in a "monumental fight" with these "fat cat" corporations, but said it's a fight that's been long overdue.

"The same forces we are fighting on this (Gross Receipts Tax proposal) are the same forces who are making it almost impossible for you to afford to turn your lights on," he said. "We are just as determined to not only bring health care to every family in Illinois, but to make sure that the rates you're paying for your electric bills go back to where they were before the new year began."

SIU President Glenn Poshard, who was one of several preliminary speakers Wednesday at the Marion rally, said the governor's plan may be "bold and controversial," but that in his opinion, it gives the state a "chance to move forward."

David Olshon, owner of Dave's Barber Shop in Anna, said he believes Blagojevich's tax fairness plan will help small business owners like him.

"Health insurance is just not affordable," he said. "I really hope this plan goes through so that for once I wouldn't have to choose between paying bills to keep my business running or going to the doctor."

Marion Mayor Bob Butler, a self-proclaimed "dyed-in-the-wool Republican," declared that Blagojevich has been his city's best friend, more than any previous governor.

"Fact is fact and truth is truth," he said. "I thought the governor made his point very forcefully today and seemed to me to be very sincere about it."

john.homan@thesouthern.com

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