View Release as PDF
Chicago – August 17, 2014 is the 25th anniversary of an event that energized an anti-tax movement in Illinois and across the United States.
An angry crowd of 250 senior citizens protesting the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988, signed by Pres. Ronald Reagan on July 01, 1988, chased down Congressman Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, forcing him to take refuge in his limousine after he refused to meet with them.
The video of the protest displays a level of grassroots outrage that has not been seen since.
The senior citizens were demanding the repeal of this act, which according to the Medicare Newsgroup, capped out-of-pocket expenses, expanded skilled nursing facility and hospital benefits, and offered outpatient prescription drug coverage.
Beneficiaries were forced for the first time to foot the entire bill. A supplemental premium, basically an income tax on 40 percent of the elderly (up to $800 per year for an individual and up to $1,600 per year for a couple), was put in place.
The seniors stood in front of Rostenkowski’s limousine, preventing it from moving. Rostenkowski ran from the limousine, and later when the coast was clear, reentered it and fled.
Most seniors opposed this new tax on all senior citizens, and the seniors chasing down tax-raiser Rostenkowski were members of the Chicago-based Taxpayers United of America (TUA).
The tax on seniors was repealed December 13, 1989 as a result of the protests.
“This is the first time a major federal entitlement had ever been repealed,” said Jim Tobin, founder and president of TUA. “This bill increased taxes on all senior citizens, for the benefit of the few needing catastrophic care. It was this incident with Rostenkowski that singlehandedly brought national press coverage to the tax revolt against Reagan’s tax on seniors.”
In 1996, Rostenkowski was sentenced to 17 months in prison for corruption. According to the indictment, Rostenkowski bilked taxpayers out of more than $500,000. He died of cancer in 2010 at the age of 82.
TUA’s annual study of the top Illinois pensioners was featured in this article from the Niles-Morton Grove Patch.
School superintendents make a lot of money, and consequently make a lot with their pensions. Here are the 50 who make the most.
As you’d probably expect, a good chunk of individuals receiving the fattest Illinois pensions are former public school district superintendents.
In fact, out of the 200 largest government pensions, 76 were school administrators, according to data published by Taxpayers United of America (TUA).
Seven of the retired superintendents on this list also made an appearance on the list of the 25 highest Illinois government pensions. We’ve got those seven, along with the next 43 in line behind them.
Check out the 50 largest pensions here.
And if you don’t have too many dollar signs flashing before your eyes after reading that list, you’ll want to see what the price tag of corruption is for Illinois citizens. We’ll give you a hint…it’s more than $1,000.
View as PDF
CHICAGO – The president of one of the nation’s largest taxpayer organizations today urged members of the House Financial Services Committee not to renew the charter of the Export-Import Bank, calling it “The mother lode of crony capitalism.” The charter of the 80-year-old agency expires on September 30.
“The Export-Import Bank borrows taxpayer dollars from the U.S. Treasury and uses the money to help American companies sell abroad,” said Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America (TUA). “It offers low-cost loans to foreign buyers or guarantees against potential losses made by exporters.”
“Companies that benefit from crony capitalism such as Boeing Co., General Electric Co., and organizations such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, have started an all-out lobbying effort on behalf of the bank, according to the Wall Street Journal. All members of the U.S. Congress will receive an index card showing what companies in their districts benefit from the bank, and the number of people employed.”
“According to the Journal, business owners will be brought in for fly-ins to go from office-to-office on Capitol Hill to aid in the lobbying effort.”
“Veronique de Rugy, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, makes a moral case against the Export-Import Bank. In her article on NRO, she states that the fundamental case against the Export-Import Bank is simple and unavoidable: It is not the role of the federal government to subsidize private businesses, period.”
“She points out that a major function of the Export-Import Bank, practically speaking, is to coax foreign companies to buy Boeing airplanes.”
“The Export-Import Bank, whose largest beneficiary is aircraft maker Boeing, is universally recognized as inefficient, unnecessary, and distorting to price signals. It’s time to let this crony-capitalism monster, which uses taxpayer funds from the Treasury, to expire on September 30.”
