Cities and villages across the state are raising taxes or implementing new ones for a variety of functions, from attracting a fast-food restaurant to catching up on rising pension costs.
Communities across Illinois are being forced to cut local services and raise taxes to afford their pension payments, putting residents who rely on local government services at risk because of the inherent failures of defined-benefit plans.
The Harvey, Illinois, firefighters’ nearly bankrupt pension fund makes up just one part of Illinois’ combined $267 billion in state and local pension liabilities.