Jim Tobin At The Ronald Reagan Breakfast Club

By on August 5, 2021   /   Latest  

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Rock Island – The Ronald Reagan Breakfast Club yesterday hosted a packed meeting and invited as guest speaker Jim Tobin, economist and president of Taxpayers United of America (TUA). Assisting Tobin was Val Zimnicki, TUA Director of Outreach.

Tobin touched on two massively black holes of taxpayer dollars, the State of Illinois government employee pension system, and the Federal ‘infrastructure’ bill making its way through Congress.

One key detail Tobin shared was on the boondoggle that was the Illinois “high-speed” rail project. “According to experts, the state of Illinois received $1.343 billion from the federal high-speed rail fund, plus $46 million in TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) funds to speed up and increase frequencies between Chicago and St. Louis,” said Tobin. “It’s all laid out in the book, The High-Speed Rail Money Sink, by Cato Scholar Randal O’Toole.”

“Before spending high-speed rail funds, this route had four trains a day running at an average speed of 53 mph, and the state splurged taxpayer resources to allow trains to run at 110 mph.”

“Who was the benefiter? Not taxpayers. It was the freight company that owns the tracks and can now run more freight trains in the corridor. Taxpayers haven’t seen any benefit: the route still has only four trains a day running an average of 53 mph. Result: $1.389 billion wasted.”

“What happened to the Chicago to St. Louis route will happen everywhere else. Cooperate welfare to a handful of interests and Biden’s friends at the expense of taxpayers.”

Tobin, at the end of his talk, told taxpayers to call their state senators about the bill, and if they become aware of any upcoming tax increase referenda in the area, to give him a call.

“If you have any Home Rule referenda that need beating let me know. Not a lot goes taxpayers’ way in Illinois, but when it comes to referenda, taxpayers win when they organize and fight these proposals. We are here to help.”

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Taxpayer Funded Politicians: Barbara Flynn Currie

By on August 4, 2021   /   Latest  

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Barbara Flynn Currie, Democrat from the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, was a Madigan lapdog from January 1979 to her taxpayer subsidized retirement at the end of the 2018 legislative year.

“Barbara F. Currie was horrible for taxpayers,” said Jim Tobin, president of TUA. “There was never a year that she acted in the interest of taxpayers, and I have her voting record to prove it.”

“Take for example Barbara’s term during the 95th Illinois General Assembly. She voted for HJRCA42, which would have doubled the income tax for high earners and paved the way for other tax increases.”

“She also voted for HB656, remembered as the great CTA bailout. At time of passing, it was set to all the Chicago Transit Authority raise taxes by $550 million without local referendum. It raised sales taxes from where they were by 200% in the collar counties, and 25% in cook county. It also raised Chicago’s real estate transfer tax by 40%, then the highest for its kind for such a large city.”

“The same year, Barbara voted for SB837, Chicago’ 911 surcharge tax. The tax at the time doubled the tax surcharge for 911 calls placed in the city from $1.25 to $2.50. It was designed at the time to rake in $8 million from taxpayers to fund non-infrastructure projects and vague ‘anti-terror’ projects. Take a guess how all that turned out?”

“As a reward for a career dedicated to stealing from taxpayers, Barbara Flynn Currie receives a General Assembly Retirement System, pension subsidized by taxpayers of an estimated $129,957 a year. This amount will grow at a compounded rate of 3% every year so long as she is eligible for the pension.”

“Barbara Flynn Currie is not the only government pension millionaire on the list,” said Tobin. “There are plenty of pension millionaires, and I am going to put a spotlight on all of them. If taxpayers would like to view the latest annual report on Illinois pensions, there is a link to it on our website.”

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Peoria Taxpayers Held Hostage by Government Pensions

By on July 16, 2021   /   Latest  

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Peoria–Jim Tobin, founding President of Taxpayers United of America (TUA) was in Peoria July 14 urging the local government to support reform of the Illinois state government pension system. “In April, City of Peoria taxpayers voted overwhelmingly against advisory property tax hikes to pay government employee pensions,” said Tobin. “79.3% of voters said no to raising property taxes for police pensions and 74% of voters said no to a firefighter property tax increase.”


“The elephant in the room has been ignored long enough. It is literally destroying the City of Peoria and has to be addressed.”


“In 2018, Peoria got rid of 22 firefighter and 16 police positions. In 2019, Peoria residents faced a new property tax devoted to funding police and fire pensions, which are already funded by property taxes. In 2020, the city cut 45 jobs and offered early retirement incentives to deal with budgeting issues.”


“The Peoria pension problem has grown so bad that according to City Manager Patrick Urich, it is cheaper to run local police and fire ragged with overtime than to hire new government employees. In our upside-down world, $4.6M in 2020 overtime pay is the least expensive option.”


“According to the city manager, in the last 10 years the city eliminated 145 positions from the city’s budget, and put that money into pensions. Aren’t taxpayer dollars supposed to go to essential services? Are retired government employees really more essential to Peoria residents than police, fire, and other government services?”


“I would love to show you the astounding pensions that police and fire receive, but government unions and Illinois Governor Jay Robert ‘J. B.’ Pritzker closed the book on that throughout the state. However, I do have plenty of other city and local pensions to give as examples.”


“Take for example former City of Peoria employee Michael D McKnight. McKnight receives, courtesy of taxpayer property taxes, an estimated $148,104 annually, and he retired at the ripe old age of 59. For a measly contribution of $99,325 to the pension fund, he is estimated to receive $2,600,808 from his pension. Not a bad deal.”


“The Peoria government pension system, like the rest of the Illinois government pension system, is broken. There are ways solve the pension crisis, but they are growing further out of reach. The enormous downward economic pressure because of population loss in example makes it hard to grow out of pension debt.”


“Peoria elected officials should pass a resolution calling for the Illinois General Assembly to enact a pension reform amendment to the Illinois constitution. Such an amendment would enable Peoria to restructure its pension debts and to be fairer for both taxpayers and government employees looking to retire.”


“Additionally, placing all new hires in a 401(k) system would reduce costs and grant government employees more control over their retirement strategy.”


Click Here to View all Peoria City Pensions of $100,000 2021


Click Here to View Top 200 Peoria area IMRF pensions

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