Food Pantry Profits from Cross Press Conference

State Rep. Tom Cross, who used $1,000 worth of groceries at a press conference to demonstrate how much the average family paid in additional taxes over the last year, donated half of the food Thursday to the . 

Cross (R-Oswego), House Republican leader, was joined by state Sen. Christine Radagno (R-Lemont), Senate Republican leader, and other GOP officials in Chicago at the media event on the one-year anniversary of the state income tax hike signed into law by Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn.

For the average family of four, the increase added up to about $1,000, officials said.

Cross said the state should have cut Medicaid and pension expenses before voting for the tax increase, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune.

“I think the most troubling aspect about this for us is that we could have avoided this,” Cross was quoted as saying. “If you’re an Illinois taxpayer, you ought to resent this. You ought to be angry about it. You ought to say, ‘Why didn’t you do the things you know needed to be done?’"

The Republicans are calling for a repeal of the tax increase, which escalated personal income tax from 3 percent to 5 percent.

In response, a Quinn spokeswoman said the idea is unrealistic and the equivalent of wanting to “repeal reality,” the Trib article said.

“We just can’t take the plan seriously,” said budget spokeswoman Kelly Kraft, who said the increase brought in an estimated $7 billion last year.

Radogno paid for the other half of the groceries used as a prop during the press conference.