Wednesday, May 20, 2009

A Black Hole in Springfield

by Cal Skinner

As we were walking over to see my son's favorite Springfield museum, the State Museum, I saw this black hole.

It's the entrance to underground parking for state employees located southwest of the State Capitol.

With Governor Pat Quinn threatening every taxeating interest group he can find, it certainly seems symbolic of where our money will be going if the General Assembly follows former Governor Jim Thompson's advice and hikes income taxes. Thompson hiked taxes from 2½ percentage points to 3%, a 20% increase.

Quinn wants a 50% income tax hike.

My son went to the museum both Friday and Sunday.

It was still free.

That's why it's my favorite museum.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog, along with a lot of other stuff about the end of the session.

1 comments:

Bookworm,  9:48 AM  

I live near the ISM and have visited it many times. I believe it is one of the most underrated attractions in Springfield.

I do have to raise this question, though: how do you expect ISM to maintain free admission if they don't get state funding?

If you're against throwing state money down a "black hole" then logically you should be in favor of at least a small admission charge for state museums and parks. I personally would not be opposed to an admission charge, if it was kept small, say, $5 per adult. Or institute a statewide DNR pass that costs $20 or $30 per year and would get you free admission to any state park or museum. Other states do this to fund their park systems.

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