Illinois
Related: About this forumEvery person in Illinois owes $11,000 for pensions, with no fix in sight
Three years ago, the Illinois Supreme Court struck down the states attempt to cut its employees pension benefits to chip away at a retirement-system debt thats swelled to almost $11,000 for every man, woman and child.
Since then, Illinoiss credit rating was downgraded to the verge of junk, its bonds have tumbled and its largest city, Chicago, was stripped of its investment-grade status by Moodys Investors Service. And Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democrat-led legislature have made no real progress toward a new plan that doesnt violate the state constitutions ban on reducing benefits.
Illinois failure to address its pension crisis has resulted in further deterioration of the state and cities financial condition, exorbitantly high borrowing costs, and an inability to address other critical needs at the state and local level, said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a Chicago nonprofit that tracks state and municipal finances. Time is not your friend when your liabilities are compounding and your revenues are not.
The funding shortfall across Illinoiss five retirement systems climbed to $137 billion by last June, a jump of about $17.8 billion since 2015, after the government for years failed to made adequate contributions. That pension deficit more than four times larger that its debt to general-obligation bondholders is adding hundreds of millions of dollars in costs to Illinoiss budget each year as the government plows more money in to catch up.
Read more: http://www.daily-journal.com/news/local/every-person-in-illinois-owes-for-pensions-with-no-fix/article_0b750ab8-539d-11e8-9e43-3f49cd2f3edb.html
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)The state workers did their job, paid in the money every paycheck and the state politicians both republican and democrats spent that money and wrote IOUs to the pension funds because they were too cowardly to raise taxes...there are fixes....progressive tax rates, pot sale taxes, make local school districts pay their fair for their teachers pensions instead of Illinois tax payers....eliminate the 3% COLA bullshit..
Snarkoleptic
(6,027 posts)Pritzker has my vote as he vocally supports-
1) Legalizing and taxing cannabis, which will generate in/out state revenue as we're surrounded by red states. Plus save tons with the associated criminal justice reforms.
2) Establish a graduated income tax, which is currently not possible with our existing state constitution.