Buckner on Progressive Tax, Fair Maps, and Bears
Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) speaks at a news conference in Chicago in 2022. (Photo: Chicago Sun-Times)
Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago), one of the top lieutenants to House Speaker Chris Welch, is weighing in on some of the top issues facing lawmakers in 2026.
Buckner spoke on a number of issues on The Illinoize podcast released Friday, ranging from mass transit reform, the state budget, energy prices, cost of living, and more.
Some Democrats have begun rumbling to put a graduated income tax referendum on the ballot again in 2026, even after it failed in 2020. Buckner says he supports a graduated income tax, but isn’t sure this is the time to go to taxpayers.
“I feel way too often, we get locked in on this idea of fairness in our tax structure, which we desperately need,” Buckner said. “I think we’ve forgotten the politics part of it, right? Sometimes politicians forget how to be politicians. And so much of this is political. When people hear you say the word taxes, doesn’t matter if it’s a tax on your neighbor or a tax on your enemy. When they hear taxes, they think about themselves.”
He says Democrats would have to show the state is willing to be more efficient with spending and transparency and be clear about where additional revenue would go before going to the electorate to ask for more money.
Buckner also broke from many Democrats saying he supports an effort to take drawing legislative maps out of the hands of politicians.
“We should always be in touch with the populace and the electorate and what they’re thinking. And I think we’ve entered a new phase in American politics, not just in this state, but in this country where folks are asking, is there a way to do things differently? Is there a way to do things better,” he said. “I can say that the people of this country were flabbergasted when it came to what President Trump tried to do in Texas. That there were equally folks who looked at what California tried to do to respond that were not happy. We’re in a weird spot where every single entity, whether it’s the courts or the state legislatures, we kind of feel like we’re the fulcrum of democracy. We’re the thing that is keeping this thing together. And with all this going on around us, people are looking for more ways to have a purer form of this government.”
Buckner, who has been a central figure in the conversation over the future of the government’s role in a stadium for the Chicago Bears, and represents the current Soldier Field site, says the Bears have not made a convincing argument for property tax relief and infrastructure improvements for the proposed Arlington Heights stadium site.
“The folks who have been a part of this conversation have all said infrastructure is a normal part of conversations like these. Let’s have them,” he said. “The Bears have refused to, as my fifth grade math teacher would say, show their work. They thought that they were going to be able to get a blank check like they always have. And that’s not the way it’s going to work.”
Buckner says the Bears need to push the “reset button” with the General Assembly and Governor JB Pritzker to make some sort of agreement in Springfield this year.
Here’s Buckner’s appearance on The Illinoize podcast:
