PRITZKER SOVIET-STYLE LOCKDOWN PUT ILLINOISANS AT GREAT MEDICAL RISK

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Yesterday, Illinois Governor Jay Robert “J. B.” Pritzker announced from the economic rubble of his once prosperous state, that he would move forward with “phase 4” of his soviet style lockdown.

“Not only is Pritzker delaying the economic recovery of the state, but his actions have put Illinoisans at risk and may be causing many deaths of his constituents,” said James L. Tobin, economist and president of Taxpayers United of Illinois (TUA).

According to Scott W. Atlas M.D., a physician and senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, lockdown policies have created the greatest global economic disruption in history, with trillions of dollars of lost economic output. “The cure is bigger than the disease at this point,” said Atlas. “150,000 new patients with cancer are diagnosed every single month in the United States. Most of them are not getting diagnosed.”

Stanford epidemiologist John P.A. Ioannidis states, “We lack reliable evidence on how many people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 or who continue to become infected. Better information is needed to guide decisions and actions of monumental significance and to monitor their impact.”

“Three months after the outbreak emerged, most countries, including the U.S., lack the ability to test a large number of people and no countries have reliable data on the prevalence of the virus in a representative random sample of the general population,” wrote Ioannidis.

“In the absence of data, prepare-for-the-worst reasoning leads to extreme measures of social distancing and lockdowns. Unfortunately, we do not know if these measures work. School closures, for example, may reduce transmission rates. But they may also backfire if children socialize anyhow, if school closure leads children to spend more time with susceptible elderly family members, if children at home disrupt their parents’ ability to work, and more. School closures may also diminish the chances of developing herd immunity in an age group that is spared serious disease.”

Ioannidis warns, “One of the bottom lines is that we don’t know how long social distancing measures and lockdowns can be maintained without major consequences to the economy, society, and mental health. Unpredictable evolutions may ensue, including financial crisis, unrest, civil strife, war, and a meltdown of the social fabric. At a minimum, we need unbiased prevalence and incidence data for the evolving infectious load to guide decision-making.”

John P.A. Ioannidis is professor of medicine and professor of epidemiology and population health, as well as professor by courtesy of biomedical data science at Stanford University School of Medicine, professor by courtesy of statistics at Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences, and co-director of the Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS) at Stanford University.

STATE PENSIONS FATTEN WALLETS OF RETIRED ILLINOIS POLITICIANS

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Top 200 GARS Pensions

Retired Illinois politicians have become pension millionaires and are getting richer by the day, while Illinois taxpayers lose their jobs, get behind on their mortgages and have trouble paying their bills, according to the most recent study of state pensions by the Taxpayer Education Foundation (TEF).

“These bloodsuckers that raised state taxes billions of dollars, and then retired, are getting lavish, gold-plated pensions and benefits,” said James L. Tobin, economist and TEF president. “Their functionally-bankrupt state pension plan, the General Assembly Retirement System (GARS), like the other state pension plans, has been kept on life-support with billion-dollar increases in the state income tax.”

“Thanks to the tax increases that many of these reprobates voted for, the state is economically dying and has lost population six years in a row.”

For 2019 and 2020, two GARS pensions exceed $200,000. From 2019 to 2020, the number of pensions exceeding $100,000 has gone from 62 to 71, and the number exceeding $50,000 has gone from 218 to 221.

The highest annual pension, $265,428, goes to retired legislator Arthur L. Berman (D), the author of the failed Berman Tax Increase Amendment, which we helped defeat years ago. Berman’s total pension paid to date is $3,670,815.

A central figure responsible for much of the pension crisis is former governor James R. Thompson (R), one of the worst tax-raisers in Illinois history. Thompson currently receives an annual pension of $165,987. He has received a total pension to date of $3,219,842. His estimated lifetime pension payout is $3,385,829.

Former governor, Patrick J. Quinn Jr. (D), the so-called “reform” governor, currently receives an annual pension of $149,882. He has received a total pension to date of $694,733. His estimated lifetime pension payout is $3,255,658.

Former legislator and governor, James R. Edgar (R), receives a current annual pension of $175,952. He has received a total pension to date of $2,502,093, and his estimated lifetime pension payout is $4,755,649.

Edgar signed into law Senate Bill 3 in 1998, the biggest government pension increase in the history of Illinois. SB3 gave retired government teachers 75% of their salary at retirement, with annual compounded increases of 3 percent. SB3 will cost taxpayers $4.5 billion in 2020, which is 12% of the Illinois state budget!

The taxes to support these outrageous Illinois government pensions are driving taxpayers out of Illinois. Almost all of the last $5 billion-dollar state income tax increase was used to prop up the state pension funds. This is why Illinois governor Jay Robert “J. B.” Pritzker (D) wants to pass his Nov. 3. 2020 Income Theft Amendment, a massive state income tax increase for Illinois taxpayers. Instead of seeking pension reform, Pritzker wants another massive income tax hike.

Pritzker is destroying the Illinois economy. He wants to place more taxes on the backs of the state’s taxpayers, while he stubbornly enforces the Soviet-style state shutdown. Pritzker should explore significant reforms to the state’s bankrupt pension plans for retired government employees. He wasn’t elected to declare war on the state’s middle class.

Governor Pritzker Must Do More For Taxpayers NOW!

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Chicago–Taxpayers United of America (TUA) president Jim Tobin, today criticized Illinois Governor Jay Robert “J. B.” Pritzker’s response to COVID-19.

“Pritzker is killing the Illinois economy,” said Tobin. “On March 25, Pritzker announced he was considering extending the statewide lockdown, and the continued closure of all businesses he deemed non-essential.”

“If the lockdown is extended as is, the Illinois middle class will be devastated. Unlike government employees, taxpayers have to worry if their jobs will still be there after the lockdown. One taxpayer wrote to me, telling how he lost his job of 11 years, and that his former employer would likely close its doors soon. The virus didn’t do that. Pritzker did.”

“Pritzker needs to use his emergency powers to slash taxes to support those struggling in Illinois. Tax cuts will especially be needed if he extends his lockdown order. I know Representatives in the Illinois State House, including Allen Skillicorn (R-66, Crystal Lake), have come forward with a list of actions needed to defend the Illinois economy against the worst of Pritzker’s lockdown. Their proposed sales tax holiday will be particularly useful in getting Illinois moving again.”

“Pushing back the state income tax deadline to that of the new federal income tax deadline is not enough. Taxpayers need immediate relief, and the defeat of all new tax increases, including the November 3 Income Theft Amendment, are necessary for recovery.”