“INFRASTRUCTURE” TAXES HELP POLITICIANS, NOT COMMUTERS

By on February 18, 2020   /   IL, Illinois, Latest  
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Raising taxes for “infrastructure” is a scam that helps politicians but not commuters, according to Jim Tobin, president of Taxpayer Education Foundation (TEF).

“Politicians want to raise taxes for infrastructure because new projects give taxpayers the impression they are getting shiny new things for their money,” said Tobin. “But, in fact, these projects actually harm commuters.”

“Several studies by transportation expert Randal O’Toole, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, show that with the exception of New York City subway ridership, the future for the rest of the government transit industry is dim. Yet billions of dollars are still being poured into declining government transit systems instead of improving roads.”

“O’Toole provides some startling statistics to illustrate these facts.”

  • Other than New York City subways, nationwide ridership fell 1.2 percent for 2019 as a whole.
  • When compared with 2014 ridership, 2019 ridership fell in 44 out of the 50 largest urban areas.
  • Transit buses, including commuter buses, trolley buses, and bus-rapid transit as well as conventional buses, carried fewer riders in 2019 than in any year since 1939.
  • Light rail is also doing poorly, losing more than 4 percent of its riders in 2019.
  • Government Transit is not healthy in almost all urban areas. Los Angeles and Washington ridership peaked in about 2008; Chicago in 2012; and the others in 2013 or 2014.  If government transit can’t thrive in Chicago, which has the nation’s second-largest downtown, then it is really becoming a one-urban-area industry (New York).
  • Whenever it opens a new light-rail line, Los Angeles loses five bus riders for every light-rail rider it gains, and even light-rail ridership declines in years that it doesn’t open new lines.

“O’Toole shows that building government rail transit usually does more harm than good to a transit system. Gasoline is cheap and autos provide people access to far more jobs and other economic opportunities than transit,” said Tobin.

“Interstate Highways, called the world’s best transportation system, were paid for entirely out of federal and state highway user fees. There is little justification for raising more taxes and trying to get people out of their cars and onto transit, which in turn means there is little justification for the tens of billions of dollars of annual subsidies American taxpayers give to the government transit industry.”

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OUTRAGEOUS GOVERNMENT-EMPLOYEE PENSIONS HARMING LAKE COUNTY TAXPAYERS!

By on January 20, 2020   /   IL, Latest  

The Taxpayer Education Foundation (TEF) today released its study of the Lake County area government-employee pensions, highlighting the top pensions in the Teachers Retirement System (TRS), the State Universities Retirement System (SURS) and the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF). Taxpayers United of America (TUA) issued the following statement based on the TEF pension study.

“It is no mystery what’s driving the economy-killing property tax increases in Lake County,” said Jim Tobin, TUA president. “It’s the state’s lavish, gold-plated pension plans for retired government employees.”

“The perpetual tax increases that plague Illinois residents have nothing to do with children, roads, or services. They are about pensions for the privileged government class. This money may be ‘earmarked’ for buildings or whatever, but in reality it only frees up increased taxes for government pensions. It’s a shell game.”

“Those of us in the private sector must reduce our spending if our income decreases; we can’t just go to our employer and demand more money to fund irresponsible spending. That’s not true for the political class.”

“The IMRF pension fund, which gives lavish, gold-plated pension benefits to retired municipal employees, is subsidized by property taxes. If that isn’t bad enough, IMRF pensioners are also eligible to receive Social Security pensions.”

“When you look at what the individual government retirees are actually collecting in taxpayer-funded pensions, you can get a better idea of why this theft of taxpayer wealth is so outrageous. Keep in mind that the average taxpayer will collect only about $17,500 a year from Social Security.”

“Here are some egregious examples.”

“Dwight Magalis retired from the Lake County government at the age of 52! His current annual pension from IMRF is $172,303. He will receive $3,030,251 in total pension payments over a normal lifetime. He also is eligible for Social Security. ”

“Henry S. Bangser retired from New Trier TWP HSD 203 at the age of 57. His current annual pension is $331,489. For a total contribution he made to his pension of only $336,612, he will accumulate $9,557,306 in taxpayer funded pension payments over a normal lifetime. What a racket!”

“Girard Weber retired from the College of Lake County at the age of 66. His current annual pension is $304,266. For a total contribution he made to his pension of only $314,282, he will receive $7,015,970 in total pension payments over a normal lifetime. Wow!”

“Linda L. Yonke retired from New Trier TWP HSD 203 at the age of 63. Her current annual pension is $263,645. She will receive $7,484,592 in total pension payments over a normal lifetime.”

Click here to view all top Lake County Pensions.

“The entire local and statewide pension system in Illinois is unsustainable. The other five statewide pension funds are partly funded by the state income tax. Democrat Governor Jay Robert ‘J. B.’ Pritzker and his tax-raising cronies want to stick it to middle class taxpayers by increasing the state income tax again. They placed, on the November 2020 ballot, another statewide income tax increase.

What does a statewide income tax increase mean for you? It means stealing from you to subsidize government pension millionaires.”

“The federal graduated income tax was sold to taxpayers as ‘a tax cut for the middle class.’ How did that turn out?”

“The state government employee pension system is the single cause of Illinois’ critical financial situation and it is mathematically impossible to tax our way out of this situation.”

“The Illinois government in Springfield has failed us. It’s in everyone’s best interest to solve the pension problem before the system completely collapses. It is no longer a matter of ‘if’ it will collapse, but when.”

“All new hires should be placed into 401(k) style retirement savings accounts. Member contributions to their retirement funds should be increased. Retirement age for full benefits should be increased to at least 65, preferably to 67, and contributions for health care also should be increased. Anything short of these reforms will do nothing to permanently solve the problem.”

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ILLINOIS ONE OF WORST STATES FOR BUSINESS TAX CLIMATE!

By on November 25, 2019   /   jim tobin, Latest  
Picture Taken by Pete Jelliffe and used under creative commons license.

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Illinois is one of the worst states for business tax climate, according to the just-released report of The Washington, D.C.-based non-partisan Tax Foundation. According to its 2020 State Business Tax Climate analysis, Illinois ranks 35th out of fifty states. (https://statetaxindex.org/state/illinois/)


The State Business Tax Climate Index is a measure of how well states structure their tax systems. It enables policymakers, business leaders, and taxpayers to gauge how their states’ tax systems compare, and provides a roadmap for improvement. “This new report illustrates just how hard it is for our high-tax State of Illinois to compete with its surrounding states,” said Jim Tobin, president of Taxpayers United of America TUA).


“Four of Illinois’ five neighboring states are significantly better in structuring their tax systems: Indiana is #10, Missouri is #14, Kentucky is #24 and Wisconsin is #26.” “Of the individual components of the index, Illinois is 36th on corporate taxes, 40th on property taxes, and 40th on unemployment insurance taxes.”


The foundation also points out that the absence of a major tax is a common factor among many of the top 10 states. Several states do without one or more of the major taxes: the corporate income tax, the individual income tax, or the sales tax. Wyoming, Nevada, and South Dakota have no corporate or individual income tax (though Nevada imposes gross receipts taxes); Alaska has no individual income or state-level sales tax; Florida has no individual income tax; and New Hampshire, Montana, and Oregon have no sales tax.


This does not mean, however, that a state cannot rank in the top 10 while still levying all the major taxes. Indiana and Utah levy all of the major tax types, but do so with low rates on broad bases.


“Illinois is hemorrhaging jobs and population,” said Tobin. “In order to bring back businesses and taxpayers, at the very least the Springfield politicians should cut taxes across the board. This result would give them breathing space while they tackle the really tough problem of the state’s government pensions.”

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