Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) explains the Fair Tax initiative that's pending in the Illinois Legislature and why he has long supported shifting to a fair tax in a new video.

The proposal would allow Illinois to shelve its archaic flat income tax structure, which is enshrined in the state constitution, and replace it with a fair tax in which lower rates would apply to lower incomes and higher rates would apply to higher incomes.

"I've supported the fair tax for years because I'm convinced it's the only way we get out of this hole we're in in Illinois," Harmon said. "We have no nimbleness in our tax policy. We are very reluctant to raise income taxes because we know how much it hurts working families.

"If we don't have the flexilbity to apply lower rates to lower income levels and higher rates to higher income levels, we'll never dig out of this without raising income tax rates on everybody in the state."