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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.”
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CHICAGO—Ill. Senate President, John Cullerton is putting Illinois at risk of going under by denying that the state’s pension systems are in crisis, according to the Executive Director of Taxpayers United of America (TUA).
“Illinois’ five government-employee pension plans have a deficit of at least $100 billion,” said Rae Ann McNeilly, of TUA. “Due to decades of reckless overspending on lavish, gold-plated pension benefits of retired government employees, the plans have passed the point-of-no return. It is mathematically impossible to tax your way out of this crisis. The 67% increase in the state personal income tax and the anti-business 9.5% corporate income tax rate passed two years ago, every dollar of which is being pumped into these pension funds, didn’t even make a dent in the state’s unfunded liability. Unbelievably, Ill. Senate President, John Cullerton has been quoted recently stating that the Illinois’ pension system is not yet in crisis.”
“The so-called ‘reform’ plans of Ill. House Speaker Michael Madigan (D) and Ill. Senate Pres. John Cullerton (D) do nothing more than provide political cover for these career politicians, falling critically short of the necessary reforms.”
“While they play Russian Roulette with Illinois’ finances, the number of government retirees making more than $100,000 in annual pension benefits has grown to more than 10,000 and the unfunded liability grows, conservatively, by $5 million each day that passes without real pension reform.”
“Immediate and sweeping pension reform can stop Illinois’ downward spiral but will take serious political courage. Will you step up to the plate, Pres. Cullerton and Speaker Madigan? Or will you turn your back on Illinois as you ride off into retirement, leaving the state in virtual ruin?”
“Reform must include ending defined benefit pensions for all new government hires in order to permanently eliminate new, unfunded government pension liabilities. New government hires should plan for their own retirements by being placed in Social Security and 401(k) plans, like those in the private sector.”
“Each current government employee must be required to contribute an additional 10% toward his or her pension, saving taxpayers $150 billion over the next 35 years.”
“Finally, requiring Illinois government employees and retirees to pay for one half of his or her healthcare premiums would save an estimated $230 billion over current projections.”
“If these reforms are not put in place soon, Illinois will become a larger version of Detroit.”
TUA’s commentary on Illinois’ corporate income tax was featured in an article by Dennis Byrne at Chicago Now.
UPDATED: Illinois Senate President John Cullerton said Sunday that the state’s massive public employee pension debt is not a “crisis,” but instead an issue being pushed by business-backed groups seeking lower income taxes at the expense of retiree benefits. — Chicago Tribune
That’s the $100 billion owed by us taxpayers to the government employee pension funds. In truth, it would be a lot more than $100 billion if more realistic and professional actuarial standards were used to calculate the debt. (The bogus calculation assumes that the pension funds earn 8 percent interest.)
Never mind the 86,134 backlogged bills totalling $5.4 billion that the state also owes to its suppliers and service providers, many of them health care professionals that are essential for the well-being of poor people.
Never mind $71 billion in bonded indebtedness and that the state has the worst credit rating of the 50 states, meaning that borrowing the money to keep the state running keeps getting more and more expensive.
Never mind that the revenues from the Illinois income tax increase is being gobbled up by pension obligations, meaning less and less money for health care, law enforcement, education, transportation and other essential functions.
Cullerton’s assertion is a rare look into the empty noggins of the folks responsible for this mess, and signals a warning that state’s finances likely won’t be significantly improved. (We could well see a “window dressing” non-solution to create the fiction that the clueless Democrats who run the state are “doing something.”
UPDATE: Jim Tobin, of Taxpayers United of America, reminds us that the corporate income tax rate in Illinois is 9.5 percent, not the 7 percent that Cullerton states in the story. Tobin has noted that the figure seems to be misreported frequently by some in the media.
