As Pritzker’s minimum wage bill advances to the House, the new administration’s first major victory may come with a $1.1 billion price tag, courtesy of Illinois taxpayers.
As Pritzker’s minimum wage bill advances to the Senate floor for a vote, the new administration’s first major victory would come with a $1.1 billion price tag, courtesy of Illinois taxpayers.
Chicago had nearly 15,000 municipal employees paid at least six figures in 2017, up more than 1,000 from the previous year. That’s more than 40 percent of the city’s workforce.
It’s the fifth year in a row Illinois has lost people. And the fifth year in a row that the loss has gotten worse. No other state finds itself adrift in five consecutive years of worsening population decline.
Outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel is publicly pushing for a constitutional amendment to the state’s pension clause. Pension reform is the only way to combat rising property taxes and prevent further budget chaos in Illinois state and local governments.
Fitch Ratings has issued a warning about a pension plan pushed by one Illinois think tank, which includes no reform and would harm the state’s credit rating. The response from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability proves how indefensible the plan really is.
Once again proving why the state must amend the Illinois Constitution’s pension clause, the court unanimously ruled in favor of a special perk that inflated union leader pensions to nearly three times the pension of the average worker.
A pension plan pushed by one Illinois think tank fails to reform the state’s broken pension system and risks repeating costly mistakes. Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker shouldn’t be fooled and should instead endorse meaningful, lasting reform.
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.