Another one of the state’s five pension systems has posted negative investment returns for 2012, highlighting yet again the problems caused by Illinois’ politician-controlled defined-benefit plans using taxpayers as a backstop. For the third time in the last five years, the Judges’ Retirement System, or JRS, has posted a negative investment return. Although the pension...
Illinois state government has 230 programs that provide state funds to nearly 7,000 units of local government in Illinois. The largest 11 programs alone provide more than $13 billion to local governments. The distribution of that money, across the entire state, makes it difficult to hold state and local governments accountable for their spending decisions....
Unfortunately, 2012 was another dismal year for budget and tax policy in Illinois. It seems that the more things change the more they get worse in this state. But the Illinois Policy Institute is fighting to fix that. We believe that Illinois can once again become a beacon of economic freedom, individual liberty and prosperity....
THE PROBLEM In 2010, the Illinois Policy Institute reported that Illinois is a high-tax state with a tax burden in the top third of all states. The Institute cautioned that any tax increase would damage the state’s economic competitiveness. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and the Illinois General Assembly ignored numerous warnings and used a lame...
In the mid-1990s, Illinois lawmakers were facing a serious problem: the unfunded liability of the state’s five public pension systems. By 1996, the state’s unfunded pension liability stood at $20 billion. As a way to combat this growing problem, the state created a repayment schedule, often called the “pension ramp.” The pension ramp promised to...
State Rep. Elaine Nekritz, state Rep. Daniel Biss and several of their rank-and-file colleagues recently unveiled a new pension reform proposal. These lawmakers should be commended for stepping forward with a plan, rather than waiting on their political leaders to get around to fixing the problem. Unfortunately, the Nekritz-Biss plan falls short of fixing the...
As the pension crisis threatens to engulf Illinois, legislators continue to fiddle. It’s no secret that Illinois has the worst-funded state pension systems in the nation. That’s an accepted fact by those on both sides of the aisle. Unfortunately, that fact hasn’t motivated any action from the state’s politicians. Now recent news point to even...
Things still aren’t looking up for the Teachers’ Retirement System, or TRS. You’ll remember that it earned a dismal 0.76 percent return on its investments in fiscal year 2012, after predicting 8.5 percent returns. Earlier this year, TRS lowered that expectation, but only slightly: the system is still predicting 8 percent returns this year. But...
The dust has settled from an uneventful veto session. No progress was made. The one attempt at reforming Illinois’ out-of-control pensions that legislators put forward is a step in the right direction, but ultimately would perpetuate the crisis by failing to prescribe the right medicine for the problem at hand. And the efforts to make things...
A member of our community sent the following email to Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), Sen. Pamela Althoff (R-Crystal Lake) and Gov. Pat Quinn. Subject: 6258 and 4% more the taxpayers will be on the hook for Mr. Franks, Ms. Althoff, Mr. Quinn, Although I agree that comprehensive pension reform must happen in Illinois, how can...
For the second year in a row, the state’s annual pension payment will increase by nearly $1 billion. The combined payment for all five state pension systems will increase to $6.8 billion next year, up from $5.9 billion this year. Annual payments for Illinois’ five pension systems per year, in millions Illinois ended fiscal year...
Last week in Springfield, there was very little legislative activity during the first week of veto session. Such limited action took place that the House canceled Thursday session, and it is rumored that the Legislature will only meet on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week as well. It is expected that the current two-week veto...
During a House Executive Committee meeting this week, one round of testimony began with the argument that Illinois is in a fiscal crisis because it has $9 billion in unpaid bills. That argument couldn’t be more backward. Illinois’ crisis is due to habitual overspending, that results in unpaid bills. Unfortunately, the recent “solution” offered up...
The Illinois Policy Institute opposed eight bills and appeared in several committee meetings during the first week of veto session. Our policy team had crucial face time with legislators and discussed our positions on public policy that affects all Illinoisans. We also reached out to many members of the House Republican staff. Here is an...