TUA Celebrates 4 Years Defending Taxpayers

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CHICAGO- For over 45 years since its founding, Taxpayers United of America (TUA), a Chicago-based tax watchdog group has successfully fought taxes at the local, state, and federal levels, while championing the interests of taxpayers. 

Founded in 1976 by economist and activist Jim Tobin while still employed as a bank examiner at the Chicago branch of the Federal Reserve, Tobin was disgusted by what he saw from the inside and left the government sector to work on behalf of taxpayers. TUA has since gone on to become one of the largest taxpayer organizations in America. 

“I’d love to continue this work for as long as possible,” said TUA founder and president, Jim Tobin. “Our work is critically important now more than ever, and it’s incredibly rewarding to work on behalf of taxpayers and lessen the tax burden foisted upon them by politicians and governments.”

Since TUA’s founding, the taxpayer watchdog group has made an impact on tax policy in Illinois and across America. In 1977, Tobin led the first successful property tax strike in modern Illinois history. In the past four decades, TUA has been victorious in defeating 441 local tax-increase referenda, stopping state income tax hikes, and defeating every attempt to enact a graduated state income tax in Illinois since 1992. TUA’s leadership and members were instrumental in repealing the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988, legislation that increased taxes on all senior citizens, which was the first time a major federal entitlement had ever been repealed. 

All combined, TUA has saved local, state, and federal taxpayers more than $200 billion of their hard-earned money since 1976.


Tobin Talks Tax Revolts and Government Pensions in Glenview

Glenview–On Thursday, June 23, 2016, Jim tobin, founder and president of Taxpayers United of America (TUA), spoke before a crowd of more than sixty taxpayers in Glenview, IL to discuss the financial challenges taxpayers are currently facing in Illinois, and the chances of substantive reforms.
Organized by Lucinda Kasperson, Tobin recounted for attendees TUA’s four decades of work and activism on behalf of taxpayers across Illinois and America. He also highlighted a recent TUA report analyzing local pensions, including Glenview, and discussed how local property taxes fund the lavish benefits and retirements of former government employees.
Tobin also offered some solutions to the state’s ongoing financial crisis, which is driven by outrageous government pension liabilities.
Tobin concluded by discussing TUA’s recent 10th Annual Illinois State Pensions Report. The analysis includes both short-term and long-term policy solutions, like transitioning away from the defined benefit pension system and offering 401(k)-style plans to new government employees, and more enduring changes, like amending or repealing the Illinois Constitution’s pension-protection clause – Article XIII, Section 5 – and allowing municipalities, school districts, and other taxing districts to reorganize through Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
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10th Annual Illinois State Pensions Report

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CHICAGO—Taxpayers United of America (TUA) today released the results of their 10th Annual Illinois State Pensions Report, which analyzes Illinois’ General Assembly Retirement System (GARS), Judges’ Retirement System (JRS), Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS), State Universities Retirement System (SURS), State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS), and the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF).
Click to view TUA’s 10th Annual Illinois State Pensions Report
This new report examines Illinois’ government-pension troubles since 1989, providing background information outlining the poor policies and political blunders that produced the state’s ongoing fiscal fiasco. Included in the analysis is a case study of the Top 40 Pensioners from 2006–2016, based on estimated lifetime pension payouts.  Surveying the growth of these pensions over the past decade provides a snapshot of the financial burdens Illinois taxpayers face, illustrating the extent of the unfunded liabilities accrued and the cost of not implementing reform.
TUA’s 10th Annual Report also expands the annual list of top government pensions, this year revealing updated data for the Top 400 Illinois Pensioners of 2016, who will collectively receive $91.5 million in pension payouts this year alone.
“Nearly seventy-five percent of these top government pensioners are collecting more than $200,000 a year in taxpayer-funded pensions,” said TUA’s executive director, Jared Labell. “These government pensions accumulate to multi-million dollar payouts over a natural lifetime, and for many government retirees, they will collect more than their total contributions to their pension fund while employed within two years of retirement.”
TUA’s analysis of Illinois’ government pensions, based on data collected through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, shows that there are now 15,661 state pensioners collecting more than $100,000 annually and 92,386 state pensioners collecting more than $50,000 annually in Illinois.
“Taxpayers should not be expected to suffer under devastating income tax hikes and skyrocketing property taxes while continuing to fund an insolvent government pension system resistant to reform,” said Labell.
“Illinois’ government-employee pensions are unsustainable. The Illinois Constitution’s pension-protection clause – Article XIII, Section 5 – unfairly chains generations of taxpayers to an uncontrolled financial burden created by the disastrous decisions of politicians in Springfield,” said Labell.
“Taxpayers in Illinois are nearing a tipping point. The Illinois General Assembly continues to fail to pass a balanced budget and correct decades of financial mismanagement. As the tax burden weighs heavier upon residents, a growing number of taxpayers are talking about tax protests and tax strikes, and rightfully so,” said Labell. “Taxes are revolting, so why aren’t you?”