Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Ameya Pawar wants Illinois to move towards free tuition for state universities. And the Chicago alderman says one way to do it is to spend more on capitol development at state college campuses.
Pawar outlined his strategy at an appearance at the University of Illinois at Urbana Thursday. Answering a student’s question about college tuition, Pawar said spending more to build and maintain campus facilities would help the state in more ways than one.
“The capitol is one way to get at it really quickly because it also creates jobs. It drives down costs for the university because it frees up money on their balance sheet. But it also puts people back to work building new facilities and new labs.”
Pawar says Illinois could raise money for capitol development at state universities and other facilities by instituting a graduated state income tax. For example, he says Wisconsin’s graduated tax structure would provide an additional seven billion dollars of revenue each year, if used in Illinois.
Ameya Pawar is one of eight candidates for the Democratic nomination for Illinois governor.