By Joe Pollak, Breitbart.com

Michael Madigan, the all-powerful Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, announced Thursday that he would direct the Democrat-controlled state legislature to place a referendum on the November ballot that would raise taxes on millionaires by three percent. The measure is similar to a referendum that California Gov. Jerry Brown convinced voters to pass in November 2012, and which helped the state achieve a budget surplus.

Madigan, a Democratic Party boss whom most regard as the true ruler of the state--surpassing Democrat Gov. Pat Quinn--would need to convince three-fifths of both houses to pass the tax hike as a constitutional amendment before it could be put to the voters. 

However, as Ray Long, Monique Garcia and Maura Zurich of the Chicago Tribune note, "Madigan holds enough Democratic votes that he could muscle the measure through."

Democrats hold supermajorities in both the House and Senate in Illinois, thanks partly to the fact that Madigan redrew the districts after the 2010 Census--and did so without fear of opposition from the governor after Quinn defeated his Republican challenger. 

The state has continued on a downward fiscal spiral, and Illinois has the most underfunded pension system of any state in the Union, as well as the third-highest unemployment rate.

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