Join us for dinner and robust conversation on current events. LWVEA will welcome CHANGE Illinois Executive Director Madeleine Doubek to start the conversation.

The evening will begin with a short update on the graduated income tax. Under LWVIL State Government Positions, LWVIL supports a graduated income tax. And thanks to recent legislation, voters will get to decide whether to ratify a proposed constitutional amendment switching to graduated rates in the next general election in November 2020. The change will take effect one of two ways: if three-fifths (or 60%) of people voting on the amendment approve it, or if a simple majority (50% plus one) of all voters, including those who skip the question on their ballots, approve it. The proposed tax rates range from 4.75 percent up to 7.99 percent for Illinoisans who earn more than $1 million annually.

Next up, we will hear the latest on Census 2020. It is fast approaching and preparation for it has been late and controversial. Commerce Department officials want to ask people here whether they are citizens. The League is very concerned with the census, and for decades LWVUS has had encouraged state and local Leagues to encourage full participation in the census, under both the Voting Rights position and the Election Process: Apportionment position. As such, the League engaged in efforts to remove the citizenship question from the 2020 Census. LWVNY joined one of six lawsuits across the country challenging the inclusion of the question. LWVUS joined an amicus as it headed to the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the question’s inclusion without proper vetting. LWVUS also lobbied Congress, engaged the LWVUS Lobby Corps, and activated its grassroot network yielding the most successful engagement campaign of 2018 all to raise awareness of the damaging effects this question would have on communities around the country. An undercount in Illinois will cost the state hundreds of millions in federal funding. It could cost the state an extra congressional district and it will affect redistricting with skewed districts if various groups of residents don’t get counted.

After we hear the latest on these topics, we will spend the rest of the evening breaking bread and discussing what we recently learned.

This event is free. Won’t you consider purchasing dinner from our host location?

Please RSVP