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CHICAGO—The so-called “pension reform plan” being pushed through by Ill. Sen. Pres. John J. Cullerton (D), Ill. House Speaker Michael J. Madigan (D), Senate Minority Leader Christine Rodogno (R), and House Minority Leader Jim Durkin is being kept a secret from legislators and taxpayers, but smells like a rotten deal for taxpayers, according to the President of Taxpayers United of America (TUA).
“Cullerton, Madigan, Rodogno, and Durkin are trying to cram a bad bill down the throats of taxpayers by keeping it from review by legislators and taxpayers alike,” said Jim Tobin, TUA President. “Their secrecy and their new-found sense of urgency tell me that they have found a way to kowtow to the union bosses who keep them in power and pass the cost to the taxpayers before they know what hit them.”
“According to the limited details that have been released regarding the agreement between the Illinois power brokers, there is very little reform to the system that has been bankrupting the state and burdening taxpayers. This proposal shifts even more of the cost of these lavish, multi-million dollar pensions to the taxpayers and provides additional guarantees to perpetuate a system that has decimated Illinois’ budget.”
“It seems that reelection is more important to some Illinois legislators than providing real reform for lavish, gold-plated government pensions.”
“Immediate and real pension reform is long-overdue. Ending pensions for all new government hires will eventually eliminate unfunded government pensions,” said Tobin. “New government hires should plan for their own retirements by being placed in Social Security and 401(k)-style plans.”
“Furthermore, if each government employee were required to contribute an additional 10% toward his or her pension, taxpayers would save $150 billion over the next 35 years. Instead, the proposed plan shifts even more cost away from the employees to the taxpayers.”
“Finally, requiring Illinois government employees and retirees to pay for one half of their healthcare premiums would save even more – an estimated $230 billion over current projections.”
“This proposed deal stinks and is nothing more than political cover for the government bureaucrats who seek reelection.”
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CHICAGO – Illinois’ effective corporate income tax rate of 9.5% is contributing to the state’s financial woes, according to the president of Taxpayers United of America.
“Illinois has the country’s fourth highest corporate income tax rate and rather than helping the state’s crisis level financial woes with increased revenue, it is compounding the problems by chasing away businesses. Unless, of course, those businesses are large enough to hold the state hostage by threatening to move their operations to a more business-friendly state,” stated Jim Tobin.
“Illinois lawmakers don’t have the economic good sense to lower the corporate income tax rate to a level that will attract and keep businesses. Instead, they engage in a damaging corporate welfare program that rewards those very businesses that threaten to leave.”
“Large corporations like Sears and CME have already siphoned money away from small businesses and individual taxpayers with their tax discount deals that resulted from the threat of leaving Illinois. Now there is a string of corporations trying to get their turn at the corporate welfare trough.”
“Office Depot, who recently merged with OfficeMax, is threatening to move the Naperville, IL, headquarters of OfficeMax to Boca Raton, Florida, home of the former’s corporate operations. Their leverage is the 2,000 jobs that would go with them. Decatur stands to lose a major employer in Archer Daniels Midland. They are citing the state’s burdensome income tax as the reason to leave Decatur and Illinois unless they receive a tax cut.”
“It’s time to say no to these corporations and end corporate welfare and lower the 9.5% corporate tax rate for everyone. Not only would we retain the large corporations and the revenue, we would retain the thousands of small businesses and the tens of thousands of individual taxpayers who have silently protested paying the state income taxes of the larger and richer corporations by leaving the state.”
“It’s no secret that Illinois is functionally bankrupt. Illinois and its flagship city of Chicago have been spanked for their reckless spending and borrowing by having their credit ratings repeatedly downgraded. Illinois now has the worst credit rating in the country. These spankings were, effectively, punishment for not reforming the state’s sinking government pension funds; however they did nothing to force Speaker Michael Madigan (D), and Senate President John Cullerton (D), to provide the necessary leadership to finalize even minimal reforms.”
“Instead of reforming their spend lust and a bankrupt government pension system, the Illinois General Assembly is considering at least three resolutions that would pave the way for a referendum to amend the State Constitution that would allow a graduated or progressive income tax. The proposed changes would increase the income taxes of 85% of Illinois’ taxpayers. The top rate for the individual income tax could be as high as 11%. But even worse would be the estimated 12.8% corporate income tax rate.”
“And we can’t forget that Springfield Democrats passed a temporary 67% increase in the personal income tax rate along with a 30% increase in the corporate income tax rate in a structured vote, literally in the last minutes of the 97th Illinois General Assembly. This ‘temporary’ increase didn’t make a dent in the state’s indebtedness as it was supposed to.”
“Such an irresponsible increase that will be sold as a tax increase only on the rich, will force even more back-room deals for the big corporations that will be paid for by individual taxpayers and small business – that is until they quietly take their jobs and their money to tax-friendly states.”
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CHICAGO—The president of Taxpayers United of America (TUA) condemned the unresponsiveness of the legal system in Illinois, which denied an appeal by taxpayers who sued Riverside-Brookfield Sch. Dist. 208 for illegal electioneering.
“It’s mindboggling the extent to which local judges protect the status quo, even in the face of convincing evidence that a local government-school district engaged in illegal electioneering in trying to pass a property tax increase referendum,” said Jim Tobin, TUA President.
Representing homeowners, TUA had joined with Anthony J. Peraica & Associates in appealing the decision of Judge Leroy K. Martin’s July 17, 2012 ruling, in which he dismissed with prejudice their lawsuit against Riverside-Brookfield Sch. Dist. 208.
Plaintiffs Peraica and TUA had charged that the school district used illegal electioneering in its failed attempt to pass a property tax increase referendum in the April 5, 2011 election.
The appellate court affirmed Judge Martin’s dismissal of the lawsuit on Oct. 31, 2013.
“While we are disappointed in the appellate court’s decision, we were successful in defeating the April 5, 2011 property tax increase referendum despite the shady tactics of Sch. Dist. 208,” said Tobin.
“Our efforts on behalf of taxpayers against devious school districts led to the most important reform legislation in the 97th Illinois General Assembly: SB3314, introduced by St. Sen. Don Harmon (D-39 Oak Park), which was the direct result of the lawsuits filed by TUA against Oak Park D-97 and Wilmette D-39 school districts for using ballot language that purposely mislead taxpayers by understating by 300%, the property tax increase resulting from passage of a referendum. SB3314 makes this practice of duping voters illegal.”
