View as PDF Chicago—The president of Taxpayers United of America (TUA) today urged the Illinois General Assembly to abolish the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), rather than adopt ineffectual measures that would only perpetuate what he called “a corporate welfare institution of monstrous proportions.”
“While the Ill. House of Representatives passed House Bill 574 on June 23, 2015, and sent it to the Illinois Senate, which would allow the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to turn some of its functions into a ‘public-private partnership,’ such a move is inadequate and will not make a dent in Illinois’ fiscal emergency,” said Jim Tobin, TUA president.
“The State of Illinois is broke; it is going down the drain, and it’s time to put entire bureaucratic state programs on the chopping block,” said Tobin.
“House Speaker Mike Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton and their caucuses passed a budget for the 2016 fiscal year beginning July 1 that is at least $4 billion in the hole. The upcoming budget deficit would be more than double that of last year.”
“The DCEO is responsible mainly for disbursing funds to local businesses and local governments. In addition to $528 million in state funds, the DCEO also disburses about $1.25 billion in federal funds.”
“These are nothing but welfare payments to politically connected business firms. All corporate welfare should be immediately ended. But if the members of the Illinois General Assembly insist on handing the federal loot to their corporate friends, the federal funds should be collected and disbursed by the Illinois Department of Public Aid as welfare checks. That would at least be honest.”
View as PDF Chicago—The president of Taxpayers United of America (TUA) today urged members of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote against reviving the charter of the Export-Import Bank. The U.S. Senate voted on July 26, 2015, to resurrect the bank by amending a highway funding bill.
“The Export-Import Bank is the mother lode of crony capitalism,” said Jim Tobin, TUA president.
“The Export-Import Bank borrows taxpayer dollars from the U.S. Treasury and uses the money to help American companies sell abroad,” said Tobin. “It offers low-cost loans to foreign buyers or guarantees against potential losses made by exporters.”
“Companies that have benefited from crony capitalism include Boeing and General Electric. Organizations that have lobbied on behalf of the bank have included the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“Veronique de Rugy, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, cut to the core of the issue: It is not the role of the federal government to subsidize private business. She pointed out that a major function of the Export-Import Bank is to coax foreign companies to buy Boeing airplanes.”
“The Export-Import Bank is universally recognized as inefficient, unnecessary, and distorting to price signals,” said Tobin. “It’s time to end this crony-capitalist monster.”
View as PDF Chicago—Taxpayers United of America (TUA) today released its analysis of the impact of the Illinois State Police on the state’s budget.
“Illinois has the most bloated state police force in the region,” stated president of TUA, Jim Tobin.
“According to the most recent BLS Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, Illinois has 2,105 sworn officers, by far the most in the Midwest. Trailing Illinois are Michigan with 1,732; Ohio 1,560; Indiana 1,350; Missouri 1,028; Iowa 669; Minnesota 530; and Wisconsin with 492.”
“The vast majority of these sworn officers do nothing but generate revenue for their own overly-generous salaries and pensions by issuing expensive traffic tickets with unreasonable fines while the rest run illegal road blocks and checkpoints for local police. Many Illinois State Police even work the precincts for powerful politicians,” added Tobin.
“According to the Illinois State Police Merit Board, trooper trainees get a starting annual salary of $32,076 while in the training academy and jump to a whopping starting salary of $57,708!”
“It’s ludicrous that we would hire so many ticket writers, but then to pay them so lavishly really shows the lack of common sense and concern for the taxpayers’ money and the state budget.”
“Time magazine reports that the national average salary, for all police officers, is $56,980 and yet here in Illinois we start state police pay well above the national average.”
“Our most recent study of the ISP pensions revealed that all of the top 200 state police pensions were over $102,000! And that rich pension starts around the age of 52 and comes with fully paid Cadillac-healthcare.”
“Here are some numbers all of us can understand and why the pension system is bankrupt: John Lofton, of the Ill. State Police, retired at a ripe old age of 58. His annual pension is a stunning $134,026, which will accumulate to about $4.2 million over a normal lifetime. Not a bad return for a 3.6% personal investment!”
“Timothy Becker’s annual pension is $120,672. Over a normal lifetime, his total payout will exceed $7.3 million because he retired at only 50 years of age. His personal investment in his estimated lifetime payout is only 2.8%.”
“We could save billions by putting the Illinois State Police in line, both in numbers and in pay, with the majority of state police departments.”
“And of course, we need to end the defined benefit pension system for ISP and all state employees,” concluded Tobin.
