CHICAGO—Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics do not support the perception that police officers have very high-risk jobs, or that there is a “war on cops,” according to Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America.

“Police-organization bureaucrats repeatedly state that there is a ‘war on cops’ in order to justify police salaries and the ability in some municipalities for cops to retire at an unusually young age, often in their fifties,” said Tobin. “By retiring earlier than most workers, police officers can literally rake in millions of dollars in pension benefits over a normal lifetime.”

“In fact, the number of on-the-job police fatalities has dropped nearly 50 percent in the last 20 years, even as the total number of cops has doubled. And, by the way, the leading cause of death for cops is car accidents, not violence.”

“Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics prove that police work is not one of the top five or even top ten most hazardous jobs. Police officer fatalities and reported injuries place them at number 12. Eleven jobs are more hazardous, number one being Fishermen, with 129 fatalities per 100,000 workers. The average annual salary of a fisherman is only $27,950 and does not include a pension. The second most hazardous job is that of logger, with 116 fatalities per 100,000 workers. The average annual salary of a logger is $30,360 with no pension benefits. Farmers and ranchers have 40 fatalities per 100,000 workers and earn about $49,140 per year. Sanitation workers have 37 fatalities per 100,000 workers and earn $32,790 per year. Number 12 on the list is police officers, with 16 fatalities per 100,000 workers. The national average annual wage for police is $51,410.”

“Not only are police officers paid well to work, but they are paid extremely well not to work! Retiring in their fifties with as much as 80% of their pay and COLA (cost of living adjustment), they make more after about 10 years of retirement than they did when they were actively working. Their annual pension actually doubles after 24 years of a 3% compounded COLA.”

“Another false justification of excessive pension benefits is that police officers die at a much younger age. The fact is that police officers live as long as non-police officers according to CALPERS (California Public Employee Retirement System) actuarial data.”

“Police protection is vital to a safe society, and we should be happy that is has become so much safer in the past 20 years. But at the same time, taxpayers should not be bombarded by false data from police-organization bureaucrats with emotion-based propaganda in order to justify higher-than-justified salaries or pension policies that include unusually early retirement.”

Sources:
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Reason, Apr. 26, 2011
CALPERS

Chicago –Pension reform could be easy if there were no government-union bosses — and the votes they deliver — according to Taxpayers United of America (TUA).

“The entire State of Illinois has been brought to its knees by about 5% of its population,” said Rae Ann McNeilly, TUA executive director.

“The debt to accommodate this 5% has grown to 200% of the state’s annual budget. Using liberal actuarial standards, Illinois’ pension debt hits the $100 billion mark sometime this month, and that debt is created by the pension funds that serve only 5% of the state’s total population.”

“How is it that this 5% of the population has such total control over the entire state? Government unions. Government-union bosses deliver the votes to keep politicians in power. The state of Illinois is being held hostage by cowardly legislators who are so worried about the votes of the rank and file that they are willing to steal massive amounts of wealth from the rest of the state’s population to prop up a system that is a proven failure.”

“Pension reform could be relatively easy if we didn’t have government unions. We have reached the point where government unions have outlived their usefulness and are actually a threat to the entire state’s economy and general welfare.”

“There should be no Constitutional protection for union thugs who pillage the state’s coffers for the benefit of a few and the legislators who kowtow to their demands. There should be no more laws that protect this corrupt system of election quid pro quo.”

“None of the proposed pension reform bills even attempt to address the cause and effect that has brought the state to its knees. The current pension system places tremendous amounts of money in the hands of government bureaucrats who have never demonstrated responsibility with such assets.”

“Pensions, as we know them, rely on steady growth and prediction of the future. All across the country, these systems have failed. Pension reform that does not permanently eliminate the possibility of unfunded liabilities by replacing them with defined contribution retirement savings is a smokescreen and shows disregard for 95% of the state’s population.”

“The ‘Madigan bill’, being touted by Chicago machine boss and Ill. House Speaker Michael Madigan (D), not only falls short of eliminating unfunded liabilities, but worse, it guarantees that no matter how outrageous the pension debt gets, taxpayers must pay the pension bill before all others. This bill actually affords even more protection to the 5% at the cost of the 95%.”

“The ‘Cullerton bill’, which Senate leader John Cullerton purports will provide ‘real and substantial reform for a generation to come’, falls short on nearly every level and relies on the employees making the choices between COLAs and hospitalization. Both need to be cut if we intend to stay afloat.”

“Neither of the proposed bills is a panacea or even provides a margin of relief to taxpayers. It’s time for lawmakers to do their job and fix this problem as though there were no government union bosses to appease. Pension reform can be that simple. Pass the laws necessary to do the job and pass a bill that gets a state constitutional amendment on the ballot that makes it legal to do what is in the best interest of 95% of the state.”

“Real pension reform must: 1. End pensions for new hires and implement a 401k type retirement savings program with no guarantees that hold taxpayers hostage. 2. Increase current employee pension contributions to reflect private sector levels. 3. End COLA’s entirely. 4. Raise the retirement age to 67 and continue to raise it as life expectancy increase. 5. Require all government employees and retirees to contribute 50% to their healthcare premiums.”

“And while we are at it, maybe we should ban government unions and Constitutional protections to special interest groups.”

CHICAGO—Taxpayers United of America (TUA) is working with taxpayers in Indiana’s Knox Community School District to oppose the district’s property-tax-increase referendum that will appear on the district’s May 7, 2013 ballot.

“This referendum is a money grab for the bureaucrats of the Knox government schools,” said Jim Tobin, TUA president. “Homeowners are being hit-up for a property tax increase to fund a new building that just isn’t necessary.”

“The average value of a home in Starke County is $99,400, so this referendum, if passed, would increase such a home’s annual real estate tax bill by about $279 every year.”

“It’s amazing that even with the decline in property values, resulting in homeowners losing a significant portion of their assets, the Knox Community School bureaucrats still want a sizeable increase in property taxes to build their work-palace.”

“Eighty-percent of government-school revenues go to salaries and benefits of these government employees for their nine-months-a-year employment. An increase in property taxes will not help students, but it will keep funds available to well-to-do teachers and administrators for their lavish pay and benefits.”

“Taxpayers in Knox Community School district are dealing with 12.3% unemployment- one of the highest in the country. They have also been hit with a 44% increase in their Social Security taxes but these government school bureaucrats want even more. After all, these government bureaucrats have no need to worry about job security or economic strife – they have nearly iron-clad job security with a guaranteed lifestyle that is greater than those in the community they serve.”

‘We urge Knox Community School homeowners to turn out in force for the May 7 election and vote No on the property-tax-increase referendum. You can bet that the government employees will show up to vote in favor of their buddies’ shiny new workplace.”

Click here to download our ‘VOTE NO’ flyer to share with friends and neighbors in the Knox Community Schools district.

CHICAGO—Taxpayers United of America (TUA) released Illinois State Police Pensions and garnered major media attention.

Click here to read the release where we publish the ISP pension study and Jim Tobin calls on Gov. Quinn to freeze hiring until comprehensive pension reforms are passed.
http://www.taxpayersunitedofamerica.org/uncategorized/6845
CBS 2 in Chicago secured an exclusive release of the TUA study on Illinois State Police pensions before it was released to the rest of the IL media. Click here to see the great story by their investigative reporter, Pam Zekman.
http://www.taxpayersunitedofamerica.org/press/cbs-2-chicago-2-investigators-state-police-retirees-draw-six-figure-pensions

Fox 32 in Chicago reported on the apparent lifestyles of the rich and not-so-famous ISP.

http://www.taxpayersunitedofamerica.org/press/fox-32-chicago-taxpayers-united-of-america-wants-hiring-freeze-until-pension-crisis-fixed

Since Illinois has the worst government pension problem in the country, even MyFoxPhoenix published our ISP pension study!
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/22123911/taxpayers-united-of-america-wants-hiring-freeze-until-pension-crisis-fixed

Whiteout Press was sure to take the story to its online readers.
http://www.taxpayersunitedofamerica.org/press/whiteout-press-list-of-highest-government-pension-recipients-in-us

Conservative blog, Illinois Review published the CBS 2 coverage of our ISP study.
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2013/05/state-police-retirees-draw-six-figure-pensions.html

Click here to read the follow-up story just released on how much it will cost IL taxpayers if Gov. Quinn hires nearly 200 additional state troopers.
http://www.taxpayersunitedofamerica.org/news-releases/6875

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CHICAGO—Ill. Gov. Patrick Quinn’s proposal to add roughly 200 additional state police will cost Illinois taxpayers $1.5 billion, conservatively, over the troopers’ expected lifetime—a cost the bankrupt state and battered taxpayers can’t afford, according to Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America.

“Gov. Patrick Quinn (D) is ‘concerned’ that too many state police officers are retiring. And why wouldn’t they retire? They can retire in their 50s and get millions of dollars in retirement benefits over a normal lifetime. Getting paid not to work is a terrific deal.”

“Using a conservative estimate of $80,000 annual base pay over 25 years, these 200 additional state troopers will cost taxpayers at least $400 million in wages alone. After working for 25 years and retiring, if they live to age 85, they will cost taxpayers an additional $1.1 billion in pension benefits. Contrary to popular belief, actual employee contributions to the pension fund average only about 3% of their total, lifetime pension payouts. The total tab to taxpayers will be about $1.5 billion.”

“They will be paid more not to work, for more years, than they will be paid to actually work.”

“Besides handing out speeding tickets and doing politicians’ dirty-work, the state police contribute little to the state’s quality of life. Only the state crime lab is essential. The state troopers are superfluous and expensive.”

“We sent a letter to Gov. Quinn asking for government pension reforms that include raising the retirement age to 67, increasing employee pension contributions 10%, requiring all members to contribute 50% to their healthcare premiums, ending cost-of-living increases, and immediately replacing defined pension benefits with contributions made by all new hires.”

“We need a hiring freeze of all state government agencies whose employees participate in the crippled Illinois government pension system until comprehensive government pension reform is implemented.”

May 1, 2013. San Francisco. The taxpayer watchdog group Taxpayers United of America just released a list of the highest, multi-million dollar pension recipients from America’s government employee retirees. The details shed light on two ever growing concerns. One, government employees are bankrupting the nation with their exorbitant pensions. And two, the most blatant violators are from the San Francisco area, home of big government progressives.

Recently, Americans were outraged at the news that an Alameda County, California administrator – Susan Muranishi – was receiving a lifetime, annual, taxpayer-funded retirement payment of $423,000. But research by Taxpayers United of America (TUA) in the months since has turned up even more examples of blatant self-enrichment on the part of government bureaucrats, including offenders worse than Muranishi in Alameda County.

Digging up the details

“We have completed analysis of government employee salaries and pensions in nineteen states across the country,” explained TUA Executive Director Rae Ann McNeilly, “and while Ms. Muranishi’s pay is on the high end of the scale, it just isn’t as uncommon as you might think.”

As McNeilly points out, the below list of pension millionaires is taken from just 19 states. The remaining states are fighting as hard as they can to keep the golden parachute pensions of their state’s government employees secret. Based on the shocking findings below, readers can see why.

“How did pensions ever get so outrageous?” asks McNeilly, “These grotesque pension payments have far exceeded any possible original intent of adequately compensating ‘civil servants’ for meager wages that lean government budgets could barely afford for basic services. No, the pension scam has become the number one tool of corruption for top government union bosses to stay in power and to reelect those that would make such deals with the devil.”

Taxpayers United of America’s Rae Ann McNeilly goes on to detail how trillion-dollar government pension programs have taken on a life of their own, infecting every check and balance the system has to prevent such abuse. She explains, “To ensure the scam proliferates, lavish pensions have been awarded to the legislators who would vote on this issue. This keeps them protected by the state’s laws. And for judicial certainty, the very judges who might rule on any challenges to the system have themselves been made part of the conspiracy with gold-plated retirement security of their own.”

Top lifetime government employee pension recipients (from Taxpayers United of America):

*Note, the below estimated total pension amounts are just that, estimates. They are based on each recipient’s yearly pension payment multiplied by average life expectancy.

• Alameda County, California. This county should win an award all by itself. In 2011, it had no less than 14 retirees who would each collect over $10,000,000 in pension payments while they’re retired. And it’s not just the few fat cats at the top. TUA reveals that the top 100 pension recipients in the county each average $5,000,000 in expected pension payments. The county also claims the top two individual spots on the below list.

1. Gary Thuman, Alameda County, CA. Annual payment: $396,102. Total estimated pension: $17,824,590.
2. Christine A. Lim, San Leandro, CA. Annual payment: $239,092. Total estimated pension: $10,436,359.
3. Irene Mitchel, Pennsylvania. Annual payment: $332, 017. Total estimated pension: $9,960,523.
4. Peter G. Mehas, Fresno County, CA. Annual payment: $241,807. Total estimated pension: $9,357,534.
5. Tapas Das Gupta, Illinois. Annual payment: $426,885. Total estimated pension: $8,337,549.
6. Frank A. Fairbanks, Phoenix, AZ. Annual payment: $246,813. Total estimated pension: $7,404,386.

As Taxpayers United of America reminds us, only 19 states provide details concerning the pension amounts that taxpayers are forced to pay retired government employees. The rest of the states are fighting tooth and nail to keep it secret. With so many states’ pension funds missing tens of billions of dollars, they’re being forced to drastically raise taxes and cut services to pay for the lavish retirements.

Currently, the 50 states have an estimated combined debt of $4.2 trillion. Of that amount, as much as $2.8 trillion is owed to retired government employees. Some states, like President Obama’s home of Illinois, have an unfunded pension liability of roughly $100 billion. There was a time not long ago that a number like that represented the United States’ entire national debt. Now, it’s just the missing pension money from one single state. It that doesn’t illustrate the enormity of the problem, nothing will.

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) – Taxpayers United of America wants the Illinois government to freeze employee hiring until pension reforms are enacted.

Governor Quinn says he wants to hire 200 new state troopers this year, but the organization says there’s not enough money in the state’s budget due to pension payouts.

They claim that the top 200 pensions in our state are each collecting more than $102,000 per year.

That’s nearly 20 percent more than their annual salary was when they were employed.

CHICAGO – The President of Taxpayers United of America (TUA) today called for a freeze of all Illinois government-employee hiring until pension reforms are implemented.

“Our most recent government pension study of the Illinois State Police only reinforces our conclusions from previous pension studies. The fact that a young and healthy state employee can retire at the age of 50, make over $120,000 per year to do absolutely nothing, and enjoy Cadillac health-care, all on the taxpayers’ dime, proves that the state government pension system is corrupt as well as bankrupt,” said Jim Tobin, TUA president.

“Government bureaucrats have raised the Illinois state income tax 67% to fund these outrageous pensions, while they look for even more ways to pay outrageous salaries, like shameful $1-per-pack hikes on cigarette taxes.”

“Despite the dire state of Illinois’ financial outlook, Governor Patrick Quinn (D) is looking to repay some favors by hiring an additional 200 Illinois State Police before any kind of reforms have been implemented.”

“There isn’t one Springfield leader demonstrating a willingness to fix the problems we are facing. Ill. House Speaker Michael Madigan (D) has the power to fix the pension problem overnight, but he is conspicuous by his inaction.”

“The priorities of these Springfield bureaucrats are clear, and they have nothing to do with helping the hard-working taxpayers across the state. The crushing taxes created by Springfield politicians are driving producers and jobs out of the state.”

“Our most recent study shows that the top 200 Illinois State Police retirees are all collecting more than $102,000 per year. The average retirement age of this top 200 group is 52. The average lifetime payout of the top 200 is well over $5.5 million. Retirees in this group have personally invested only about 3.3% of the lifetime payout they will receive.”

“The State of Illinois could save taxpayers billions if the Illinois State Police were disbanded, leaving only the crime lab in tact. At the very least, Gov. Quinn could place a moratorium on hiring any additional State Police until the pension problem is solved.”

“Reforms must:
• Eliminate future unfunded liabilities by replacing defined benefit pensions with defined contributions for all new hires;
• Eliminate the 3% cost-of-living that doubles a pension after only 24 years;
• Increase the retirement age to 67;
• Increase employee pension contributions by 10%;
• Require 50% contribution to healthcare premiums by both employees and retirees.”

“It is unconscionable to hire any additional government employees until the pension problems are addressed here in Illinois. Madigan, Quinn, and their cronies have been dancing around this issue for at least 30 years now. They must be held accountable for their reckless disregard of taxpayers from which they siphon hard-earned dollars to pay for political favors.”

“Here are some numbers all of us can understand and why the pension system is bankrupt: John Lofton, of the Ill. State Police, retired at a ripe old age of 58. His annual pension is a stunning $134,026, which will accumulate to about $4.2 million over a normal lifetime. Not a bad return for a 3.6% personal investment!”

“Timothy Becker’s annual pension is $120,672. Over a normal lifetime, his total payout will exceed $7.3 million because he retired at only 50 years of age. His personal investment in his estimated lifetime payout is only 2.8%.”

“The only responsible thing for Springfield politicians to do is put a complete freeze on all government hiring, and work on nothing but pension reform until real reforms are fully implemented. Anything less will perpetuate the back-breaking, tax-sucking system that they keep afloat with inaction and petty debate.”