WAND-TV NewsCenter 17 | Taxpayers United – Government Retirees Getting Rich On Pensions

By on November 18, 2014   /   Illinois Press, Press  

TUA’s pension project on Champaign and Decatur, Illinois, is featured in this news story from WAND-TV NewsCenter 17.

 
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Decatur – Taxpayers United of America is providing government pension information at its website taxpayersunited.org. The taxpayer watchdog is highlighting pensions for retirees of the cities of Decatur and Champaign. Both Macon County & Champaign County, along with school districts in those counties. And the University of Illinois & Richland Community College.
Hundreds of retired local government retirees are getting multi-million dollar pensions,” said Rae Ann McNeilly, executive director of TUA. “It is past time to bring government pay and benefits in line with private sector compensation because simple math tells us that we can’t tax our way out of financial debacle.”
Taxpayers United is calling on the legislature to end defined benefit pension plans for new government employees. Instead TUA would prefer to see 401-k style pension plans.
The Social Security Administration says the average life expectancy of an individual is about 85 years. That would mean retirees retiring in their 50’s and 60’s could collect pension benefits for 30 year or more.

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MyStateline.com | Republican Under fire for his Stance on Temporary Income Tax Hike

By on November 12, 2014   /   Illinois Press, Press  

An article at MyStateline.com featured TUA’s release on Republican state senator Dave Syverson supporting the income tax increase.

republicantaxhikeROCKFORD- The organization Taxpayers United of America is calling out Republican Senator Dave Syverson (R) for wanting to extend the temporary state income tax until June 30th, 2015.
“Legislators need to roll up their sleeves and do the actual work to solve the problem. Their idea of a solution is to keep coming to the taxpayers for more money,” said Rae Ann McNeilly, Executive Director of Taxpayers United of America.
Syverson voted against the temporary tax increase in 2011, when it was passed into law by the General Assembly. However, with a new governor coming in and the tax set to automatically roll back 2% in January, the issue is once again being debated by the Illinois General Assembly. “If the tax comes off in January, in the next 6 months we are going to end up with a multi-million dollar [budget] hole,” said Senator Syverson.
Without that money, Syverson warns that schools, daycares, and nursing home staff will not get paid. On top of that, the state will owe them interest.
However, Representative Joe Sosnowski (R) believes the state can save money from other funds to cover the projected income deficit. He says there’s half a billion dollars sitting in Medicaid alone that the state can save. “My feeling is, before we look to extending [the income tax,] we really need to look at our spending and what reforms we can do,” said Representative Sosnowski.
There is the possibility of an agreement among legislators during the veto or lame duck session to get the tax increase extended 6 more months. Nevertheless, if the tax expires in January, that doesn’t bar it from being implemented again at some point in 2015.

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The Tom Woods Show | This Guy Led Tax Strikes, and Stopped 400 Tax Hikes

By on October 30, 2014   /   Illinois Press, Press  

TUA President Jim Tobin was on The Tom Woods Show talking about his past and present as a tax fighter. 

Very nice chat today with Jim Tobin, founder of Taxpayers United of America, who was chronicled by an admiring Murray Rothbard in 1977. He’d just finished reading volume three of Rothbard’s Conceived in Liberty (a four-volume set now available in a single volume), on the colonial period and the American Revolution, and felt inspired.
I suspected the D.C.-connected Tea Party groups would have shunned him, since he actually wants to cut taxes and has even led tax strikes. I was correct, as Tobin explains in our discussion. Have a listen!

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