ENDORSEMENT: Robert F. Martwick for Illinois House in the 19th District

To stop middle- and working-class families from fleeing the state, Democratic state Rep. Robert F. Martwick is convinced Illinois must change the way it taxes income.

Only then, he says, can our state ease the burden of property taxes, and eliminate the stack of unpaid bills and pension obligations that threaten to paralyze state government, properly fund schools and create the tax stability that businesses crave.

To Martwick’s thinking, there is no honest alternative to a graduated, or progressive, income tax modeled on one in Wisconsin.

Republicans hate that. They also, as Martwick says, have never come up with a feasible alternative.

“So when people criticize my plan, I say, ‘That’s fine. Where’s yours? Show me your math,’” he told the Sun-Times Editorial Board.

We endorse Martwick over Republican Ammie Kessem, a sergeant with the Chicago Police Department.

Send letters to: letters@suntimes.com.

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SUN-TIMES 2018 ILLINOIS VOTING GUIDE

Ahead of the historic 2018 elections, the Sun-Times is teaming up weekly with the Better Government Association, in print and online, to fact-check the truthfulness of the candidates. You can find all of the PolitiFact Illinois stories we’ve reported together here.