The President of Taxpayers United of American (TUA) today compared Gov. Patrick Quinn (D) to the Captain of the Titanic, saying that Quinn makes the Titanic Captain look highly-skilled by comparison.
“In his state of the State speech today, Governor Quinn quoted Abraham Lincoln. Well, Lincoln also said ‘You can fool some of the people some of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.’ Quinn thinks he is being clever, but he is fooling no one,” said Jim Tobin, TUA President.
“Governor Quinn is presiding over a sinking-ship called Illinois that has raised its state corporate income tax, hurting and driving away businesses, and its state personal income tax a back-breaking 67%. Nevertheless, due to its runaway spending, Illinois had its Moody’s rating downgraded to the lowest rating in the nation. Now he is planning to invest – with money Illinois does not have – in the Illinois Jobs Agenda for 2012, in college scholarships, in early childhood education, in 21st century schools, in affordable housing for Illinois residents, and in clean water.”
“As of June 30, 2011, the five retirement systems in the State of Illinois had total unfunded liabilities of 83.1 Billion. I have suggested that ending pensions for all new government employees and putting them into social security and 401 (k)s is a needed reform that will eventually eliminate unfunded government pensions completely.”
“In addition, if each current government employee in an Illinois State pension fund were required to contribute an additional 10% toward their pension, taxpayers would save in excess of $150 billion over the next thirty-five years.  Requiring government employees and retirees to pay for one half of their healthcare premiums would save even more – an estimated $230 billion over current projections.”
“If Governor Quinn truly wants Illinois to move forward, it is reforms such as these that will have to be implemented in Illinois expects to have the money it will need pay its bills and offer tax relief. But so far, he is steering the state directly toward a huge iceberg.”
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