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Kankakee on the Brink With Gov. Pension Liabilities

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CHICAGO—Taxpayers United of America (TUA) today released the results of their updated study of the top government pensioners of Kankakee County, Kankakee County government schools, Kankakee Community College, and Kankakee municipal.
“Well over 1,000 of the Kankakee area government pensioners receive multi-million dollar lifetime pension payouts,” stated Jim Tobin, TUA president. “The pensioners’ average personal investment is only about 5.5% of the lifetime payouts.”
“While taxpayers struggle to make their property tax payments, working well beyond retirement age, these government pensioners enjoy lavish, gold-plated retirements beginning, on average, at the age of 58.”
“This is not a retirement system or a safety net for ‘the poor public servants’ who have given their lives to public service. This is theft. These government pensions are immoral and unethical theft of taxpayers’ hard-earned money to be given to the political elite to do absolutely nothing.”
“Kankakee police and fire pensions are some of the most troubled funds in the country. With 27.7% and 18.8% funding ratios, respectively, and more retirees collecting benefits than employees paying into the fund, they are rapidly spiraling to insolvency.”
“There are now 12,154 Illinois government pensions over $100,000 and 85,893 over $50,000 annually! Those are staggering numbers considering the taxpayers who fund these pensions get an average Social Security pension of about $15,000 a year.”
“I defy teachers, or any government employee, to look into their neighbors’ eyes and say, ‘You deserve another pay cut so I can make more in retirement than you make working.’ They have to be able to say to their neighbors, ‘I don’t care if you can no longer afford your home’s property tax payment; I want more. I want more of your money. I want more of your wealth. I want more of your property.’ That is the reality of demanding more lavish government pensions. If you are a government employee, your neighbor is your employer,” challenged Tobin.
“Retired Pembroke CCSD 259 government employee, Barbara J. Howery enjoys an annual taxpayer funded pension of $151,441. Over a normal lifetime, she will get about $4.4 million in pension payments. Her personal investment in this rich pension is about 5.3%, or $234,403.”
Larry Huffman retired from Kankakee Community College at only 54 years of age and his current annual pension is $134,960. He will collect about $4.4 million while he only put in $157,199 of his own money, slightly more than one year’s pension payout. That’s a 3.6% investment in his own multi-million dollar retirement payout!”
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“Although we did not support or endorse SB 1 as any kind of pension reform, as it did more harm than good, the unanimous ruling of the Illinois Supreme Court clearly illustrates the limited options available to solve the pension crisis…and the answers are not tax increases!”
“A constitutional amendment that is fair to taxpayers, as well as government employees, must be approved next year in 2016. In the meantime, if the Illinois General Assembly increased individual government employee contributions to their own gold-plated pensions by 10 percentage points, it would save taxpayers about $150 billion over the next 35 years, or about $4.3 billion a year, and save the State of Illinois from financial ruin. If nothing else, the Illinois General Assembly must pass legislation that permits local governments and taxing districts to file for Chapter 9.”
“Taxpayers must pursue these three paths forward to avoid disastrously higher taxes in the immediate future.”
“Rather than finding ways to perpetuate this horrible system that places copious amounts of cash in the hands of bureaucratic hacks, rank and file union members should be calling for the complete reform and conversion to 401(k)-style funds that places employees in control of their own futures. The union and political bosses must know that they just can’t tax their way out of this problem.”
“The choice is clear: without sweeping, meaningful pension reform, residents of Kankakee and nearly every other city in Illinois will have to choose between fully funding the pension systems to pay for the services provided in the past, or pay for the services we need today.”
“With Kankakee being rated the 6th most dangerous city in the state, we need to continue to provide services to the taxpayers living here now and ensure that their tax dollars aren’t squandered on propping up the unsustainable government pension system,” concluded Tobin.
 
 
 
*Lifetime estimated pension payout includes 3% compounded COLA and assumes life expectancy of 85 (IRS Form 590).

Chicago’s Minority Residents Shortchanged on Police Protection as Emanuel Prepares Huge Property Tax Hike

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CHICAGO—Chicago residents, especially minority residents on the South and West sides of the city, are shortchanged on police protection, as they bear the brunt of the crime wave caused by rival drug gangs, charged Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America (TUA).
“This past weekend, six persons were killed and 27 wounded between Friday and Sunday. This carnage is unacceptable.”
“The highly-politicized police department has essentially given up on protecting Chicagoans,” said Tobin. “And to make it worse, while they provide substandard protection, Chicago police are pulling down high salaries and fat, lavish, gold-plated pensions that have been drained to the point where the plans are grossly underfunded and, in effect, bankrupt.”
“Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) is calling for the largest property tax increase in modern Chicago history, between $450 million and $550 million, to raise enough money to make a major pension payment for police and firefighters next year. This will drive Chicagoans with good jobs and homes out of the city, leaving the less affluent to pay the higher property taxes as they are besieged by criminals,” said Tobin.
“The War on Drugs is not only a complete failure, but its prosecution has cost taxpayers trillions of dollars and an even steeper price for the countless lives lost. This is a war on people, as we are continuing to witness on the South and West sides, and considerable reform of the drug laws are required to stop the violence fueled by prohibition.”
“Just like the pension plans of the State of Illinois, the Chicago government-employee pension plans and the Chicago Board of Education pension plan are beyond the point of being rescued by tax increases. The amendment to the Illinois Constitution protecting government employee pensions from being “diminished or impaired” must be repealed. The Illinois General Assembly must vote to allow municipalities to file for bankruptcy so the bankrupt pension plans can be restructured to bring expenses down to reasonable levels.”
“Finally, all new hires should be placed into 401(k)-style retirement plans, so they can fund their own retirements rather than living off the earnings of Chicago homeowners and property owners.”

Chicago Sun-Times|Counterpoint: Opioid addiction rarely cured by government

Executive director of Taxpayers United of America, Rae Ann Mcneilly, had an opinion piece on opioid addiction printed in the Chicago Sun-Times


 
Chicago Sun-Times Counterpoint I often cite the fact that prescription opiates, the most tightly government controlled drugs, contribute to more overdose deaths than any illegal drug, when debating for the legalization of marijuana.

But that is where my agreement ends with the recently vetoed HB 1, which would extend Medicaid coverage to the costs of medications and therapy for opioid addiction.

Regardless of the dire state of the State of Illinois’ finances, this would be a foolhardy measure.

Drug addiction is a very complex disease, but a disease nonetheless. Like all diseases, it should be treated and funded in the private sector, voluntarily, and without taxpayer dollars.

Unlike other diseases though, addiction is largely voluntary. Those who “recover” from opioid addiction have a 90 percent rate of relapse. How many times should taxpayers foot the bill for opioid recovery? Forced recovery has the least effectiveness, as the key to recovery is a desire to recover.

 In any case, using taxpayer money for such treatment will have the same effect on treatment costs as it has had on tuition, mortgages, etc. Blindly throwing taxpayer dollars at a problem always drives up the costs.

There is no question that opioid addiction is a problem; but rarely, if ever, is such a problem solved by government. We throw billions of dollars at education and our nation trails other developed countries ranking 35th in math and 37th in science out of 64 countries tested. The vast majority of government program cost is the lavish, gold-plated pensions.

The more we make government responsible for our choices, the less responsibility we will take for our own actions.

At a time when Illinois is in dire financial straits, we should be looking at more ways to cut spending and programs, particularly those that belong in the private sector. Expanding programs at this time in Illinois’ history is reckless and irresponsible. If we continue on this path of increased spending, Illinois will no longer be able to provide even the most basic services. There just isn’t enough taxpayer money!

Rae Ann McNeilly is executive director of Taxpayers United of America, headquartered in Chicago.

DISCLAIMER

Taxpayers United Of America: (TUA). is a nonpartisan, 501(c)(4) taxpayer advocacy group. Founded June 27, 1976 in Chicago, Illinois by activist and economist Jim Tobin, TUA works on behalf of taxpayers to reduce local, state, and federal taxes. In the past forty years, TUA has saved taxpayers more than $200 billion n taxes and has become one of the largest taxpayer organizations in America. Check All posts. s.

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