Findings from TUA’s pension project on Saline, Kansas, are featured in this article from Wichita Business Journal.
Advocacy group Taxpayers United of America has been touring Kansas this week criticizing what it says are excessive city, county and school district pension programs funded by property tax increases.
The Salina Journal reports that according to the organization, some Salina employees are eligible for payouts of between $1 million and $2.8 million after they retire. However, Salina City Manager Jason Gage says the estimates are misleading because they don’t take into account factors like variation in employee pay from year to year, the average tenure of employees and the average life expectancy.
Taxpayers United of America, which is expected to visit Wichita on Thursday, hand delivered a letter to Gov. Sam Brownback earlier this week encouraging pension reform.
Raising cigarette taxes in most instances have backfired on states hoping to get a windfall on the higher taxes. Unintended consequences are the rule, not the exception.
States raising cigarette taxes usually find that consumers alter their purchasing patterns. They start getting their cigarettes from sources with lower or no taxes. These sources may be nearby states with lower tax rates, the Internet, or Native American territories. The result is that the tax-raising state loses its expected revenue. Furthermore, local retailers are harmed, especially in minority neighborhoods.
When Maryland implemented a $1.00 per-pack cigarette excise tax increase in 2008, law enforcement seized four times as many out-of-state cigarette packs as compared to the same time period the prior year.
Texas also found that raising cigarette taxes was no magic potion. When it raised its excise tax on cigarettes $1.00 in 2007, Internet cigarette purchases by Texas residents increased from 2 percent of total national online sales to 17 percent.
Raising regressive taxes such as cigarette taxes harm the local economy, put an added burden on the poor, especially minorities, and drive local shops out of business. Rather than raising taxes, states must realize that the only realistic way to fight budget deficits is to cut spending.
Findings from TUA’s pension project on Kansas City, Kansas, are featured in this article from the Kansas City Business Journal.
One of the largest taxpayer organizations in the United States is calling for reform of government worker pensions by revealing pension payouts to local officials, Fox4 reports.
Taxpayers United of America claims many government employees will become “pension millionaires” after they retire, with taxpayers footing the bill.
The group calculated the top 25 pensions for government employees in Wyandotte and Douglas counties.
Kansas City, Kan., Police Chief Rick Armstrong tops the list in Wyandotte County. If he retires at 55 and lives until he’s 85, the group estimates he will receive about $3 million in pension payments.
