LAW PROFESSOR TO PRITZKER: DON’T USE CONSTITUTION AS EXCUSE TO AVOID PENSION REFORM

By on March 19, 2020   /   Latest  
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A notable law professor dismantled the argument of Ill. Gov. Jay Robert “J. B.” Pritzker (D), who argued that pension reform involving reduced government pensions violates the U.S. Constitution’s contracts clause.

Mark D. Rosen, University Distinguished Professor of Law at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, writing in Crain’s, stated that Pritzker is wrong, and that a long line of U.S. Supreme Court cases holds that the Constitution’s prohibition on impairing the obligation of contracts is not absolute.

“Pritzker’s argument is not based on law, but is the result of pressure by government-employee unions and government bureaucrats,” said Jim Tobin, president of Taxpayers United of America (TUA).

The Court had stated that “we must attempt to reconcile the strictures of the Contract Clause with the essential attribute of sovereign power…necessarily reserved by the States to safeguard the welfare of their citizens.”

Rosen states that “Common sense suggests that maintaining the state’s viability so it can provide adequate education and health care and public safety might likewise be sufficiently important to allow impairments.”

Rosen concluded, “…Pritzker should not invoke the U.S. Constitution as an excuse for not considering a state constitutional amendment.”

“Rather than bankrupting the state’s middle class with a huge graduated income tax increase this November, it’s time Pritzker was honest with his Income Theft Amendment,” said Tobin. “Illinois government pensions cannot be fixed with tax increases. True pension reform has to be based on reforming the lavish, gold-plated government-employee pension plans.”

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Taxpayers at LiberTEA Fest 2019

By on September 9, 2019   /   jim tobin, Latest, Pension Reform  


Taxpayers were in Galesburg Saturday, September 7, 2019 for the wonderful IL LiberTEA Fest 2019. Jim Tobin, President of TUA gave a speech exposing the Illinois government pension scam. Local taxpayers were amazed at just how much former government employees were receiving. For example: Ronald L. Cope, who retired at the age of 56 receives an annual taxpayer funded pension of $142,268 a year! Ronald, and many other goons were listed on a flyer handed out to the crowd. These flyers were so popular they ran out.

Jim Tobin will be visiting another city to release even more government pension data soon. Will it be your city? Stay tuned!

Click HERE to view top Galesburg Govt. Pensions as a PDF.

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JAIL PRITZKER, FREE TAXPAYERS!

By on April 24, 2019   /   IL, Illinois, Items of Interest, Latest  

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Ill. Gov. Jay Robert  “J. B.” Pritzker, the corpulent con-man acting on behalf of Chicago’s Democrat political machine, could find himself sharing a jail cell with former Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich as a result of a federal criminal investigation into a dubious residential property tax appeal, according to WBEZ Chicago Public Radio.


It seems that Pritzker, his wife and his brother-in-law are under federal criminal investigation for a dubious residential property tax appeal. According to WBEZ, the probe, which has not been revealed publicly until now, began last October and remains active.


The billionaire Pritzker and his wife may face a serious legal threat arising from their controversial pursuit of a property tax break on a 126-year-old mansion they purchased next to their Gold Coast home.


According to the WBEZ report, a Cook County inspector general’s report found Pritzker directed workers to remove all toilets from the mansion in order to have it declared “uninhabitable,” which gave the Pritzkers a huge property tax break. The report also found that the governor’s brother-in-law, Thomas J. Muenster, made “false representations” on tax appeal documents. That amounted to a “scheme to defraud” taxpayers out of more than $331,000.


The Chicago Sun-Times published news of a confidential memo from Cook County Inspector General Patrick Blanchard. The report found the Pritzkers had caused the residence they had purchased next to their home to fall into disrepair, in part, by removing its toilets in October 2015 in order to lower the home’s property taxes by having it declared “vacant and uninhabitable.”


On that basis, the Pritzkers’ lawyers persuaded then-Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios’ office to lower the home’s market value from more than $6.25 million to slightly less than $1.08 million. That ultimately led to a dramatically lower property tax bill for the mansion.


“It’s ironic that Pritzker allegedly planned to defraud taxpayers out of more than $331,000 for his benefit while he is pushing to change the state income tax to a graduated income tax,” said Jim Tobin, president of Taxpayers United of Illinois (TUA). “Pritzker’s graduated income tax increase amendment would steal billions from the state’s most productive citizens to fund lavish, unnecessary government pensions.”


“This man has no conscience. The way things are going, he may end up in a residence provided by the state, and he won’t have to worry about property taxes.”

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