Decades of institutionalized financial mismanagement left Illinois with the nation’s worst fiscal health. Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan has been at the center of nearly every bad decision along the way.
Illinois’ current budget started out at a deficit, hoped for a tax increase that was rejected and counted on a federal bail-out that never came. Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s best fix is pension reform.
New official reporting from the state of Illinois shows both rising debt and rising costs in state retirement systems, with essential government services again facing cuts.
Jobs data is giving the illusion of economic recovery in Illinois. The reality is 107,530 workers gave up their job searches, and new COVID-19 lockdowns can only hurt more workers.
Asking Illinoisans to pay more in taxes to receive less in services has been the trend in state government for the past decade, driven by the ever-growing cost of Illinois’ worst-in-the-nation pension crisis.
The credit rating agency also said Illinois will soon pass the point of no return on public pension debt. It warned against schemes to stretch or delay pension payments.
‘Fair tax’ backers funded by Gov. J.B. Pritzker created the illusion of bipartisanship by using a former public employee union staffer who collects a generous taxpayer-funded pension due to a loophole in state law.