To see how local pension accountability will affect your district, click here. For decades, the state has subsidized the costs of pensions awarded to teachers who work at locally-run school districts. How? The state pays the “employer” share of pension benefits that teachers accrue each year, even though teachers are not state employees. That arrangement...
The problem State government owes billions of dollars for the pensions and health insurance benefits of retired government workers. Local governments owe billions more. Illinois taxpayers are on the hook for the liabilities of both state and local government. State government alone owes $83 billion to its pension funds. However, this figure alone presents an...
$203 billion and counting: Total debt for state and local retirement benefits in Illinois by Illinois Policy Institute
We’ve previously reported on SB 2194, which imposes new taxes on tobacco products and hospitals. Of course, cigarette taxes can’t fix the structural problems of Medicaid. Last week, the bill passed the House 60-52, with eighteen Republicans voting for the tax hike. Moments ago, the Illinois Senate concurred with the House 31-27, sending the bill to the Governor’s...
Read an opinion piece by the Institute's Lawrence McQuillan
The Institute's John Tillman was referenced in this opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal
For decades, the state has subsidized the pension costs of teachers working for local school districts. The practice requires the state to pay the employer share of teacher benefits that accrue each year, even though teachers are not state employees. That set-up has destroyed spending accountability across the state. Local school districts have been doling...
The Illinois House just passed SB 2194, which imposes new taxes on tobacco products and hospitals. We’ve previously explained why cigarette taxes can’t fix the structural problems in the Medicaid program. A total of eighteen Republicans signed on to the tax hike, including Mike Bost, Dan Brady, Franco Coladipietro, Jim Durkin, Kent Gaffney, Renée Kosel, David Leitch, Donald Moffitt, Rosemary Mulligan,Chris Nybo, JoAnn Osmond, Robert Pritchard, Dennis Reboletti, Chapin Rose, Jim Sacia, Darlene...
Recently, Sen. Bill Brady suggested that local pension accountability would lead to property tax increases (Pension imbalance, May 13, 2012). Not true. The state already increased everyone’s income taxes to pay for pensions. Cutting state expenses will allow for lower taxes. If the state doesn’t reduce pension costs, then other education spending will face cuts....
The Institute's Kristina Rasmussen discussed whether state legislators should cut their pay on FOX St. Louis
The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA) wants taxes raised on hard-working Illinoisans by at least $2.4 billion annually through a progressive personal income tax, which taxes individual income at ever-higher marginal tax rates. Currently, Illinois has a flat 5 percent income tax. In a recent report, the CTBA argues for this tax hike by...
The Institute's John Tillman discusses whether or not teachers are actually paying their share of their pension costs.
The Institute's John Tillman appeared on ABC 7 to discuss our latest pension report, Playing Favorites.
The Institute's pension report was featured in this editorial in the Rockford Register Star.