Rockford Pensioners Collect Millions Amid Unemployment Crisis

Jim Tobin
Jim Tobin

View as PDF

TUA in the News!
Story covered by CBS Channel 23 News Rockford.

Rockford- “Rockford area property taxes have been some of the highest in the country in recent years. Property taxes pay for the local government pensions and state law requires those pensions to be paid before any other commitments. No matter how many private sector workers lose their jobs, government retirees continue to collect their gold-plated pensions,” said Jim Tobin, economist and president of Taxpayers United of America (TUA).

“While the local pensions of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) are paid by property taxes, the remaining five state pension funds are subsidized with the Illinois state income-tax.” 

“In order to fund pensions of the 148,654 pensioners who will collect more than a million dollars in pension payments, Democrat Gov. Jay Robert ‘J. B.’Pritzkeris seeking to hoodwink voters into passing constitutional amendment that that ushers in massive state income-tax increases.”

“Pritzker’s incometheft amendment will be on the November 3, 2020 ballot. If passed, this taxpayer theftwill hit the middle-class the hardest. Between the mass exodus of Illinois residents to more tax-friendly states and the huge loss of jobs and income from Pritzker’s Soviet style lockdown, Illinois’ middle-class will virtually disappear.”

“As many of us have been struggling without a paycheck, or watching businesses disintegrate, here’s what a few of the political elite in Winnebago County collected without a concern of what is to come:

Alan S. Brown retired from Rockford SD205 at the age of 55. His current annual pension is $188,828, an increase of about $5,000 over last year. With his 3% compounded COLA, he will realize about $5,353,244 over a normal lifetime. His personal investment in that stunning payout is only about 3%.

Paul A. Logli retired from Winnebago County government with a current annual pension of $172,197. His raise this year was about $3,700 and he will collect about $4,966,168 in estimated lifetime pension payments. Paul is also eligible for a social security pension. 

Karl Jacobs, Rock Valley College retiree, collects $184,970 a year from the State University Retirement System (SURS). His estimated lifetime payout is $2,968,762. He only had to invest $159,281 of his own money in that payout.”

“Illinois government employees only work 20.1 years on average in order to collect these unrealistic 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 November 3rd ballot, Pritzker should have pushed for a pension reform amendment because these outrageous pensions are protected by the state constitution. 

View Top Rockford IMRF Pensions
View Top Rockford SURS Pensions
View Top Rockford TRS Pensions

PRITZKER SOVIET-STYLE LOCKDOWN PUT ILLINOISANS AT GREAT MEDICAL RISK

View as PDF

Yesterday, Illinois Governor Jay Robert “J. B.” Pritzker announced from the economic rubble of his once prosperous state, that he would move forward with “phase 4” of his soviet style lockdown.

“Not only is Pritzker delaying the economic recovery of the state, but his actions have put Illinoisans at risk and may be causing many deaths of his constituents,” said James L. Tobin, economist and president of Taxpayers United of Illinois (TUA).

According to Scott W. Atlas M.D., a physician and senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, lockdown policies have created the greatest global economic disruption in history, with trillions of dollars of lost economic output. “The cure is bigger than the disease at this point,” said Atlas. “150,000 new patients with cancer are diagnosed every single month in the United States. Most of them are not getting diagnosed.”

Stanford epidemiologist John P.A. Ioannidis states, “We lack reliable evidence on how many people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 or who continue to become infected. Better information is needed to guide decisions and actions of monumental significance and to monitor their impact.”

“Three months after the outbreak emerged, most countries, including the U.S., lack the ability to test a large number of people and no countries have reliable data on the prevalence of the virus in a representative random sample of the general population,” wrote Ioannidis.

“In the absence of data, prepare-for-the-worst reasoning leads to extreme measures of social distancing and lockdowns. Unfortunately, we do not know if these measures work. School closures, for example, may reduce transmission rates. But they may also backfire if children socialize anyhow, if school closure leads children to spend more time with susceptible elderly family members, if children at home disrupt their parents’ ability to work, and more. School closures may also diminish the chances of developing herd immunity in an age group that is spared serious disease.”

Ioannidis warns, “One of the bottom lines is that we don’t know how long social distancing measures and lockdowns can be maintained without major consequences to the economy, society, and mental health. Unpredictable evolutions may ensue, including financial crisis, unrest, civil strife, war, and a meltdown of the social fabric. At a minimum, we need unbiased prevalence and incidence data for the evolving infectious load to guide decision-making.”

John P.A. Ioannidis is professor of medicine and professor of epidemiology and population health, as well as professor by courtesy of biomedical data science at Stanford University School of Medicine, professor by courtesy of statistics at Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences, and co-director of the Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS) at Stanford University.

Rock Island Taxpayers: Enough Already!

View as PDF

Rock Island, IL – Taxpayers in Rock Island County have had enough of greedy politicians’ lust for other people’s money.

“After the county board approved an 8.9% property tax increase for 2020, taxpayers resoundingly rejected an additional 1% sales tax increase. They let the money-grubbing bureaucrats know they’ve had enough,” said Jim Tobin, president of Taxpayers United of America (TUA).

“It’s no secret that all of the increase in taxes is used to prop up a failed government pension system. And as local governments raise property taxes to fund the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF), Democrat Governor Jay Robert “J. B.” Pritzker seeks to raise the state’s income tax to fund the other five failed pension funds.”

“Pritzker’s income-tax theft amendment will be on the November 3, 2020 ballot. If passed, this taxpayer robbery will hit the middle-class the hardest. And after the huge loss of jobs and income from the Covid-19 pandemic, Illinois’ middle-class will virtually disappear.”

“If ever there was a time to tell Pritzker and the rest of the blood-sucking politicians that we’ve had enough, it’s now!”

“As many of you have been struggling without a paycheck, or watching your business disintegrate, here’s what a few of the political elite in Rock Island County collected without a concern about you:

Marshall E. Douglas retired from Rock Island County government and his annual pension is a comfortable $158,956. His estimated lifetime payout is $2,866,238, but his own investment in that lucrative payout was only about 5.6%

Calvin D. Lee retired from Moline USD 40 and collects $229,335 in annual pension payments. His estimated lifetime payout is a stunning $7,328,284! He was able to retire at the age of 58 and only contributed about 5% of his own money into the Teachers Retirement System (TRS).

Bettie Truitt, Blackhawk College retiree, collects $137,575 a year from the State University Retirement System (SURS). Having retired at the age of 52, she will realize about $7,117,914 in lifetime pension payments.”

Click here to view top Rock Island IMRF pensions

Click here to view top Rock Island TRS pensions

Click here to view top Rock Island SURS pensions

“These government employees only work 20.1 years on average in order to collect these sky-high 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% cost of living adjustment and it doesn’t take a genius to understand why Illinois’ government pensions are insolvent.”

“Rather than put an income-tax theft amendment on the ballot, Pritzker should have pushed for a pension reform amendment because these outrageous pensions are protected by the state constitution. Enough is enough,” said Tobin.