Illinois Sends Divergent Signal to Investors, Voters on Deficit

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s administration is sending different messages to municipal- bond investors and voters about its plans to close the state’s $13 billion deficit.

Finance officials are telling overseas debt buyers that Illinois can balance its budget with a 2 percentage-point boost in its income tax, John Sinsheimer, Illinois’s director of capital markets, said in an interview. After Quinn’s Republican opponent criticized that amount, the governor vowed to veto any increase of more than 1 percentage point.