
Under a graduated-rate income tax, different levels of wages are taxed at different rates. Illinois now has a constitutionally mandated flat-rate tax that taxes all personal income at the same rate of 4.95%. Here is your one-stop guide to the proposed amendment: where it came from, how it’s proposed to work and who will ultimately be affected. Why change the way income is taxed? And how would the new rate affect what residents end up paying?

Illinois voters in November will be deciding on an issue that will impact both the state’s financial future and their own pocketbooks: an amendment to the state Constitution that would replace Illinois’ flat-rate income tax with a graduated-rate structure.
