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CHICAGO— Taxpayers United of America (TUA), one of the largest taxpayer organizations in the nation, has released its 16th biennial, non-partisan tax survey analysis, revealing the tax and spending records of every member of the 98th Illinois General Assembly from January 2013 to January 2015.
“The 98th Illinois General Assembly was mostly a disaster for Illinois taxpayers,” said TUA operations director, Jared Labell. “The most notable bill to come out of this session was SB 1, the half-hearted pension reform legislation that has since been ruled unconstitutional by the Illinois Supreme Court.”
“This bill, sponsored by the leadership of both parties in the legislature, was a pathetic attempt at reforming the unsustainable government pensions in Illinois.” TUA did not support SB 1 because it did nothing to eliminate unfunded government pension liabilities and strengthened the guarantee that taxpayers must pay these government employee benefits.
“Our 16th Tax Survey contains a roll call of every legislator and how they voted on each significant tax or spending bill surveyed for this session,” explained Labell. “Legislators’ scores are normalized and range from 0% to 100%, indicating how often they supported taxpayers by voting against tax and spending increases. The best scoring legislators voted against all or most tax and spending increases and are included on the list of Taxpayers’ Friends, while those who most often voted against taxpayers are included on the list of Taxpayers’ Enemies.”
TUA has used the same methodology to evaluate each lawmaker’s record since publishing its first Tax Survey in 1983.
Based on TUA’s methodology for analyzing votes, the 98th Illinois General Assembly set a record for low-scoring legislators.
Click here to view the 16th Tax Survey of the Illinois General Assembly.
27 members of the Illinois House voted against taxpayers on every bill featured in TUA’s survey, earning each of them a score of 0% and a spot on the list of Taxpayers’ Enemies. Among those members in the Zero Percent Club are Jay Hoffman (D-113, Belleville), John E. Bradley (D-117, Marion), Laura Fine (D-17, Glenview), Jehan A. Gordon-Booth (D-92, Peoria), and Michael Zalewski (D-23, Riverside).
15 members of the Illinois Senate join their House counterparts in the Zero Percent Club, including James F. Clayborne, Jr. (D-57, East St. Louis), Julie A. Morrison (D-29), Dan Kotowski (D-28, Park Ridge), and Don Harmon (D-39, Oak Park).
“We are happy to report that 20 legislators earned their place on our list of friends, but that’s a depressing number, considering the fact that there are 177 members in the legislature,” said Labell.
In the Illinois House, Michael Unes (R-91, Pekin), David Reis (R-109, Olney), Thomas Morrison (R-54, Palatine), Dwight Kay (R-112, Edwardsville), and Jack D. Franks (D-63, Woodstock) all earned 91% scores for the session.
In the Illinois Senate, Kyle McCarter (R-54, Decatur) scored 82%, while Jason A. Barickman (R-53, Bloomington) and Chapin Rose (R-51, Champaign) both received 73%.
“Disgraced former Illinois Gov. Patrick J. Quinn (D) had a failing score of 10%. Quinn received credit for vetoing a bill that reduced transparency in the process of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, but that veto was eventually overridden by the Illinois General Assembly.”
“With an average score of 34% in the Illinois House and 24% in the Illinois Senate, there is much to improve upon when it comes to legislators defending the taxpayers of Illinois,” said Labell. “Taxpayers are encouraged to study our analysis and keep these scores in mind for the next election. While legislators continue to advocate for higher taxes and increased spending during this session, it is our job to remind them that elections mean that keeping their office is not a guarantee.”
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Chicago – Taxpayers United of America (TUA) announces its endorsement of the McHenry County initiative to consolidate townships from 17 to 8.
“There’s an exciting new trend in Illinois politics: people are pushing ideas to shrink the size and cost of government across the state,” stated TUA president, Jim Tobin.
One such movement is afoot in McHenry County. Longtime proponent of township consolidation, Bob Anderson, has finally gained support from Mike Shorten, Nunda Twp. Trustee and chairman of McHenry County Citizens for Township Consolidation (MCC4TC).
“It’s obvious that this would save taxpayers money, about $40 million over the next 10 years according to MCC4TC estimates.”
“This is great news for taxpayers in McHenry County and we will put our full support behind this initiative. We encourage other government bureaucracies to start thinking in terms of solutions that actually reduce tax burdens instead of automatically pushing for tax increases to fund the status quo.”
“The toughest part of consolidation is fighting the small-minded government bureaucrats who stand to lose their empires…and their pensions!”
“It’s long past time that more elected officials start thinking in terms of what is best for the taxpayers rather than what is best for themselves. Illinois is the poster-child for self-serving politicians whose policies harm the very taxpayers for whom they should be advocating.”
For this initiative to advance, the County Board must agree to put referendums on the ballot in March of 2016. Those townships that approve the referendum would proceed to consolidate while those that don’t would continue as their own government unit.
For more information on the McHenry County Citizens for Township Consolidation or to make a donation, visit www.mcc4tc.com.
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Chicago – Taxpayers United of America (TUA) and Illinois taxpayers have reason to celebrate today after the announcement Tuesday evening that Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) has indefinitely suspended the Illiana Expressway, among other cuts to state expenditures.
“Taxpayers should not subsidize massive and unnecessary crony construction projects, especially when Illinois taxpayers are desperately looking for both tax relief and leadership from Springfield,” said TUA’s operations director, Jared Labell. “Killing this project shows taxpayers that Rauner’s tough budget cuts include sensible opposition to extravagant government spending on an unwanted expressway.”
The project was estimated to cost taxpayers more than $1.1 billion to construct, in addition to the very real threat of taxpayers being forced to make up the difference for insufficient revenue once completed.
Among other announced cuts estimated to save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, Rauner has suspended Edge tax credits and tax breaks for the movie industry, which have always served to subsidize business at the expense of taxpayers.
Rauner also immediately halted all Illinois State Police vehicle purchases, but that decision did not go far enough, said Labell. “The Illinois State Police are the Praetorian Guard for the political class and are inessential. If Rauner really wants to shake up Illinois, he should consider drastic cuts to the superfluous Illinois State Police force and save taxpayers untold billions in expected salaries, benefits, and pension costs.”
TUA published an analysis of the Illinois State Police in April 2013, conducted by its sister research organization, Taxpayer Education Foundation (TEF) and covered by CBS 2 in Chicago. The analysis detailed the huge unfunded pension liabilities posed by the Illinois State Police and publicized the department’s top 200 pensions, all above six-figures.
“The funding suspensions announced yesterday were a good start at pushing back against the Madigan-Cullerton spending spree they call a budget,” said Labell. “But the Rauner Administration must continue to look for other systemic cuts and reforms to stop the financial fiasco Illinois is facing.”
