It finally happened. Illinois politicians ruling our state for the Democratic Party got the pension reform they have stood behind for years: none. Best of all, no one can blame them for how it happened. When the state Supreme Court said no to the Illinois General Assembly’s pension fix, it sent lawmakers back to square one with a decision taken out of their hands. Now politicians in Springfield can stand behind the outrageous pension benefits they helped create and didn’t fund, tax state residents into the poor house to pay the tab, and blame it on seven justices who will reap their own public pensions when they hang up their robes. That’s about as good as it gets in politics. Where else but government can you do something stupid and irresponsible, hurt millions of people, and not lose your job because of it?
Emanuel whines over Illinois pension system unfairness
Rahm Emanuel has been crying over the unfairness of what he considers double taxation to pay for teacher pensions, a convenient argument given the disaster facing his city’s teacher retirement plan. Yes, Chicago residents have to pay taxes for city teacher pensions. Yes, they also pay for teachers who are not in the city. What Emanuel and others prefer to ignore is that most state residents don’t benefit from either program. They are on the hook for tens of billions that benefit a minority of workers, including the politicians responsible. The unfairness doesn’t stem from paying for pensions twice. It comes from having to pay for them at all.
Hard work to ruin Illinois rewarded with no reform
Illinois’ pension laws didn’t write themselves. They won’t unwrite themselves either, as evidenced by lawmakers’ failed legislation to halt some of the damage they have created over the years. While the pension bill that was shot down yesterday was never hailed as the salvation of the Illinois taxpayer, it was still the last and only chance on the horizon to avert fiscal disaster.
Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly worked hard to get us where we are today. They didn’t want to anger big labor or government workers by dealing with their pension crisis. Now they don’t have to worry about slashing benefits as long as they can raise taxes. The next big concerns will be how to finesse that big tax hike they desperately need, whether or not to make it retroactive like the last one, and whether state taxpayers can be fleeced enough to solve the problem.
What did we learn on Friday? We learned that the advice to get out of Illinois now still stands. If you live in Illinois, leave. If you are thinking of coming here to start a business or launch a career, are you crazy?
Worst Political News Story This Week published May 9, 2015.
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