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CHICAGO—The president of Illinois’ largest taxpayer organization today urged Gov. Bruce Rauner to reject the proposals of Springfield Democrats and Republicans that would devastate the state’s economy with new, back-breaking tax increases.
“The Democrat and Republican tax-increase proposals are a scam,” said Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America (TUA). Gov. Rauner states the proposals include spending reductions, limits on expenses, debt reduction, and term limits.”
“The last time the state personal income tax was raised, almost all of the additional money went into the floundering, underfunded state pension funds for retired government employees. Illinois taxpayers in the private sector saw no significant benefit from this tax increase.”
“Gov. Rauner is allowing himself to be hornswaggled by machine boss and House Speaker, Michael Madigan, and by Senate President, John J. Cullerton.”
“The Democrat proposals would permanently raise the state personal income tax by 32 percent, from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent. The Republican plan isn’t much better. Under the GOP plan, the income tax increase would expire after four years. The four-year expiration date would coincide with a four-year property tax freeze. The income tax hike also would not be retroactive to Jan. 1.”
“Both plans offer virtually no real reforms. The state is effectively bankrupt, and is hemorrhaging taxpayers to states with lower taxes.”
“Illinois has a backlog of unpaid bills exceeding $15 billion, and its unfunded government-employee pension obligations are more than $130 billion. Illinois is beyond the point of no return in that it cannot tax itself out of this mess. The state eventually must bite the bullet and declare bankruptcy, or pass a state constitutional amendment allowing reductions in the lavish, gold-plated pensions being enjoyed by retired government employees—or both.”
“Illinois taxpayers have had it with tax increases.”
Contact: 773-354-2076 or 715-526-2638
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CHICAGO—Illinois taxpayers, hammered by some of the highest state and local taxes in the nation, are increasingly venting their anger and frustration toward the State Senate and House Democrats who hold the state in their death-grip, notes Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America (TUA).
“The Democrats in the State Senate just voted to raise the already-high state personal income tax from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent, a 32 percent increase. They also voted to raise the state corporate rate to 9.5 percent,” said Tobin. “These tax increases would be retroactive to January 1. All 32 Democrat Senators voted for the increases. Not a single Republican supported these job-killing tax increases.”
“No wonder Illinois has lost more residents than any other state for the third consecutive year. And Chicago, the most corrupt city in the nation, was the only city of the nation’s 20 largest cities to lose population in 2016.”
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that taxpayers blasted notorious tax-raiser, State. Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D-40, Chicago Heights), who helped pass the income tax increase in the senate.
“You dirt bags stop screwing the taxpayers,” posted one person on Facebook.
Another taxpayer commented, “Keep your grubby hands off our tax money you crook.”
“How dare you raise my taxes in this corrupt state. You are ruining people’s lives with your tax and spend ways,” wrote another angry taxpayer.
“Now the state income tax increases go to the State House of Representatives, controlled by Chicago machine boss Michael Madigan (D-22, Chicago). Hopefully, Madigan will come to his senses and kill this fiscally-suicidal measure in the house,” said Tobin. “And if not, we trust that Gov. Rauner (R) will do the right thing and veto the income tax hike.”
“Illinois is bankrupt due to the huge deficits of its government-employee pension funds. It is too late for the state to tax itself out of this predicament. Puerto Rico recently declared bankruptcy, and it looks more and more like this is the only salvation for Illinois.”
Unsustainable Illinois Govt. Pensions Driving State to Bankruptcy
CHICAGO — Taxpayers United of America (TUA) today released the results of its 11th Annual Illinois State Pensions Report. This new report analyzes government retiree pensions from Illinois’ General Assembly Retirement System (GARS), Judges’ Retirement System (JRS), Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS), State Universities Retirement System (SURS), State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS), and the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF).
Click below to view the data from TUA’s 11th Annual Illinois State Pensions Report
- Illinois Government Pensions Exceeding $100,000 – nearly 17,000
- Top 200 State Universities Retirement System Pensions
- Top 200 Teachers’ Retirement System Pensions
- Top 200 State Empoyees’ Retirement System Pensions
- Top 200 General Assembly Retirement System Pensions
- Top 200 Judges’ Retirement System Pensions
- Top 200 Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Pensions
Surveying the increasing number of government retirees and the growth of their pensions over the past few decades provides a greater understanding of the financial burden facing Illinois taxpayers. Nearly two years ongoing, Illinois’ current budget crisis is mainly due to the exorbitant costs of the government pension system supported by Democrats and Republicans like Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and former Gov. Jim Edgar. Government pension payments now devour billions of tax dollars every year to line the pockets of retired government employees.
TUA’s research exposes the magnitude of Illinois’ financial crisis by examining the vast number of retired government employees collecting lavish six-figure annual pensions. 17,000 former government employees each collect annual pensions of at least $100,000, costing taxpayers more than $2 billion this year alone.
Taxpayers work longer and receive far less in retirement than government employees, who often retire in their early 50s with taxpayer-funded pensions worth multiple times the annual maximum Social Security retirement benefit for taxpayers, which is $32,000 if working until 66.
Based on data collected through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, TUA’s analysis of Illinois government pensions reveals nearly 100,000 Illinois government retirees now collect annual pensions of $50,000 or more, an increase of more than 7,000 additional government retirees since TUA’s 2016 Annual Illinois State Pensions Report.
How much these pensioners paid into their own retirement, in contrast to their generous payouts, is shocking.
For many government retirees, within two years they will collect more money in retirement than they contributed to their own pension. These gold-plated government pensions, subsidized by taxpayers, accumulate to multi-million dollar payouts over a natural lifetime. Using this data to calculate the estimated lifetime pension payout totals for these government retirees underscores the ever-increasing liabilities of defined-benefit government pensions. The system is an untenable burden on taxpayers and increasingly consumes billions of tax dollars in the state budget, worsening with every new hire and retiree adding to the cost.
The Illinois State Constitution’s pension-protection clause – Article XIII, Section 5 – chains generations of taxpayers to an uncontrolled financial burden foolishly created decades ago by politicians in Springfield. It must be amended for a sustainable financial future. Taxpayers are unable to pay this enormous cost, as the budget crisis clearly shows, and without changes, taxpayers will otherwise continue to leave Illinois by the thousands for states with booming economies, while the tax burden increases for those remaining in Illinois.
