Lake Forest, IL – Government pensions are too rich even for taxpayers in Lake Forest, according to Jim Tobin, economist and president of Taxpayers United of America (TUA).
“Greedy tax-raisers believe that there is no limit to the taxes that residents of Lake Forest can pay,” said Tobin. “They have been hit with a 100% sales tax increase, a 2.5% increase in the water tax, and a 4.64% increase in property taxes. And if Democrat Gov. Jay Robert “J. B.” Pritzker gets his way, they will also take a huge hit in their state income-tax.”
“The Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) is one of the most bloated pension systems in the state. Even if one is accused of sexual misconduct with students, Illinois will make sure the accused will get a multi-million-dollar pension payout: David Miller who’s been so accused, has already collected $2,080,863 in pension payments and is on track to collect $3,826.299 over a normal lifetime.”
“All of the top 200 TRS pensions in Lake Forest have nearly one million-dollar payouts as well as all being higher than $50,000 a year. On average, teachers only work about 27 years before they are eligible to retire and collect full pensions. The average age of an Illinois teacher at retirement is only 59.
“The TRS is only about 50% funded, and this is what the proposed Pritzker income-theft amendment is all about. Pritzker has placed an amendment on the November 3 ballot to change the state flat-rate income tax to a graduated income tax. If passed, this graduated tax will decimate the state’s middle-class.”
“Between the mass exodus of Illinois residents to more tax-friendly states and the huge loss of jobs and income from Pritzker’s lockdown, Illinois’ middle-class will virtually disappear. Lake County has lost more than 7,600 residents.”
“Here a just a few of the bloated government pensions in Lake County: Harry D. Griffith, Lake Forest SD 67 retiree, has a current annual pension of $288,432. He will collect about $7,795,797 in estimated lifetime pension payments.
Girard Weber retired from the College of Lake County and currently collects $313,394 a year from the State University Retirement System (SURS). His estimated lifetime payout is $6,866,183. He had to invest only $314,282 of his own money for that payout.
Click here to view Top 200 Lake Forest TRS pensions
Click here to view Top 200 Lake Forest IMRF pensions
Click here to view Top 200 Lake Forest SURS pensions
“Illinois government employees work only 20.1 years on average in order to collect these lavish, gold-plated pensions. And for every dollar they deposit in their own pension fund, taxpayers are forced to fork over $4.74. Add to that a 3% COLA, compounded for all but IMRF, and it doesn’t take a genius to understand why Illinois’ government pensions are insolvent.”
“Rather than put an income theft amendment on the ballot, Pritzker should have pushed for a pension reform amendment,” said Tobin.
