Politicians & Unions—Lying to Ill. Taxpayers About Gov't Pensions Since '95

By on June 27, 2012   /   Illinois, Latest, Pension Reform  

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CHICAGO–Politicians and government-employee unions have been lying to Illinois taxpayers about government pension plans and their problems since 1995, charges levied by pension analyst and Taxpayers United of America (TUA) Director of Research Bill Zettler in his landmark book, “Illinois Pension Scam,” published on April 1, 2012. And, according to TUA President Jim Tobin, the media have helped perpetuate these “big lies.”
“A June 19, 2012, Associated Press article in the Daily Herald uncritically repeated these lies,” said Tobin. “It stated that ‘For years, states failed to pay their full share of pension cost…so the problem won’t be wiped away if the economy improves.’ Quoting Robert Rich of the University of Illinois, the article later states, ‘Much of the pension problem was created by states failing to contribute their share in retirement systems.’ This is an Orwellian use of misleading language.”
“When you say the state is in arrears on its pension payments, you are saying the taxpayer is in arrears. When you say it is the state’s fault you are saying it is the taxpayer’s fault,” states Zettler.
In fact, adds Zettler, over the years, Illinois taxpayers have over-contributed. “Since the taxpayers over-contributed and over accumulated shouldn’t the people who benefit directly from the pension system, i.e., the public employees and public retirees pay any excess amounts due,” asks Zettler. “Why is this a taxpayer liability?”

Concludes Zettler, “So if the taxpayers have done more than their share, why are [public-employee pension programs] $85 billion unfunded? Mainly it is because of new benefits handed out to public employees like Christmas candy….”
For solving the Illinois government-employee pension deficit of $85 billion, Zettler says: “Let’s go back to the rules originally presented to us in 1995 by rolling back all the pension enhancements passed into law since 1995 and watch the unfunded pension liability and taxpayer pension taxes drop like a rock. We never agreed to these increased pension benefits and should not be obligated to pay for them. Let those who received the increased benefits pay for them.”

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Suburban Teacher/Administrator Crosses Swords with TUA on Pensions

By on June 25, 2012   /   Illinois, Items of Interest, Latest, Pension Reform  

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“Dave,” presumably a teacher or administrator in a Northwest-suburban school district, using the district’s e-mail address and most likely a school computer paid-for by taxpayers, sent the following rather slipshod e-mail to TUA President Jim Tobin:

“I read your remarks made about teachers receiving a greater pension then [sic] ]people who work 50 weeks a years [sic].  STOP!, teachers on a daily bases [sic] take their grading and planning home and work late evenings.  Most jobs make [sic] two to three times the salary as a teacher and leave their jobs without bring [sic] work home.  With the direction Illinois is headed, you will see teachers leave grading and planning at school (work when their [sic] “on the clock”).  It sounds like you want quailty [sic] public education, but don’t want to pay a dime of your own money for it.  Just remember while your destroying education, the public services make the community, not the selfish tax watch people.  Stop comparing private industry to public work.”

TUA Director of Outreach Rae Ann McNeilly responds:

I think you have completely missed the point of the TUA pension work; all government employees should be paid a fair and competitive wage for the work they do today, that allows them to save for their own retirement through a 401(k) program. The pension system does not work. This is not an opinion or a “left/right” argument; it is simple mathematics. Taxpayers can’t afford to pay people not to work, for more years than they are paid to work, whether they are teachers, administrators or legislators. Cities and states across the country are going broke as a direct result of this unsustainable system.

As for public school teachers’ pay being lower than private sector comparable work, that is a myth.  Using 2007-2008 data (the latest available), the average “total school-year and summer earned income” for public school teachers was $53,230 . The equivalent for private-school teachers was $39,690. This is the only apples-to-apples comparison one can make. Government school teachers make far more, and that is before receiving their gold-plated pensions.

Teachers and other government employees are used by union bosses and politicians to keep their lofty positions of power. Unions force money from the rank and file to pay their own fat salaries and make campaign contributions to the pols who will keep them in power. At some point, most government employees figure this out, but few call-out the power brokers for their misdeeds, else they lose their own golden parachute.

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Illinois Government-Teacher Pensions Far Above Average For Less Work

By on June 14, 2012   /   Illinois, Latest, Pension Reform  

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“How much pension should be paid to part-time employees with partial careers?” asks pension analyst Bill Zettler in his book Illinois Pension Scam, published on April 1, 2012.
Illinois government-employee pensions and the amount of “work” performed to earn these pensions is explored by Zettler, and the results of his research raise many questions, especially when comparing salaries and pension benefits of Illinois government employees with workers in the private sector.
And according to Greg Hinz writing in Crain’s Chicago Business, the percentage of workers in the private sector who are covered by a defined-benefit plan has shrunk to a miniscule three percent, down from 28 percent from 20 years ago.
Using Illinois government-school teachers as an example, Zettler makes these points:

  • The average retired government-school teacher was a part-time employee with a part-time career.
  • Teachers work 170 days or 34 weeks a year or less (182 workdays minus 12 sick days or personal days, per the standard teachers’ contract). Teacher pensions that teachers describe as “modest” are four to seven times larger than Social Security.
  • The average pension in the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) is $46,000. Average age of retirement is 58, and the average years worked is 25.
  • For private-sector employees with college degrees, a career typically begins at age 22 and ends at its earliest after 40 years at age 62 or more likely after 44 years at age 66. For government-school teachers, on the other hand, less than one percent work 40 years or more before they retire, and the average teacher works only 25 years.

The Illinois Education Association (IEA) and other public unions, in their members’ letters to the media, claim that that the average pensions of government state employees are “modest” and “reasonable.” Concludes Zettler: “Twenty-five years is not a full career nor are 170 days a full-time job. So the IEA’s ‘average’ is not the same thing that we private sector workers consider ‘average’.”

Click here to view the top 100 Illinois teacher pensions as of April 1, 2012
This release is the first in a series. Stayed tuned for subsequent releases at: www.taxpayersunited.org.

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