View as PDF
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.
https://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.
https://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.
https://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.
https://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.
https://www.taxpayersunitedofamerica.org/news-releases/6875
Thanks for your continued support – Remember to Give Freely Now, so you still have some freedom later!
View as PDF
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.”
Findings from TUA’s nationwide pension project are featured in this story from Whiteout Press.
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.
- Gary Thuman, Alameda County, CA. Annual payment: $396,102. Total estimated pension: $17,824,590.
- Christine A. Lim, San Leandro, CA. Annual payment: $239,092. Total estimated pension: $10,436,359.
- Irene Mitchel, Pennsylvania. Annual payment: $332, 017. Total estimated pension: $9,960,523.
- Peter G. Mehas, Fresno County, CA. Annual payment: $241,807. Total estimated pension: $9,357,534.
- Tapas Das Gupta, Illinois. Annual payment: $426,885. Total estimated pension: $8,337,549.
- 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.
