Pritzer to double Illinois taxes? (Chicago: 2014, credit, buying a home)

[My Kind Of Town]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

I completely agree. The only way I could support progressive income taxes in Illinois is if we also amend the state constitution to eliminate public employee benefit protection. The state has a very long history of increasing taxes but not addressing the pension problem which has existed since the early 1900s or so.

They’ve already come a long way in addressing future pension liabilities with creation of the Tier 2 pension system in 2011. The issue at the moment are the Tier 1 liabilities.

Put yourself in the shoes of an IDOT employee that spent their entire career working for the state on engineering projects. The only reason many of those people stayed as long as they did was due to the pension. They could have made considerably more money performing a similar job in the private sector. Now we want to penalize someone like that because the state mismanaged the funds? That doesn’t seem fair to change the rules of a signed agreement after the worker has retired. The state created this mess now they need to find a solution. I don’t see how it’s fair to penalize those that had no say in the mismanagement of those funds, put in their time for the state (at a reduced pay compared to the private sector), and are likely completely reliant on their pension for retirement living. It’s easy for us that work in the private sector to say well just cut the pensions, easy fix!

[prairiestate]

Originally Posted by My Kind Of Town

Put yourself in the shoes of an IDOT employee that spent their entire career working for the state on engineering projects. The only reason many of those people stayed as long as they did was due to the pension

Seems fair to me. Their union came to them and said "We have the power to get you the most ridiculously generous pension benefits anyone has ever seen!" Those state employees should have asked how the state could afford it. Instead, they just said "Great. Let's do it!"

Now they're retired at 50, living out of state, not paying Illinois taxes. Meanwhile, my already hefty Illinois tax burden is going to double to pay for their generous retirement. Which means that I'm unlikely to ever be able to retire myself. How is that fair?

[My Kind Of Town]

Originally Posted by prairiestate

Seems fair to me. Their union came to them and said "We have the power to get you the most ridiculously generous pension benefits anyone has ever seen!" Those state employees should have asked how the state could afford it. Instead, they just said "Great. Let's do it!"

Now they're retired at 50, living out of state, not paying Illinois taxes. Meanwhile, my already hefty Illinois tax burden is going to double to pay for their generous retirement. Which means that I'm unlikely to ever be able to retire myself. How is that fair?

How is it the responsibility of the state employee to ask that question? That makes absolutely no sense. I don’t ask my employer how they can afford my generous salary. Why would I? As long as I receive a paycheck every two weeks I’m not asking any questions on how they are billing their clients because, quite frankly, it’s none of my business. We agreed on terms of compensation at the start of my employment and I’m satisfied as long as they are honoring hose terms.

Would you be upset if the federal government decided to cut out Social Security? Did you ever ask how they planned to afford the payouts by the time you retire? The pension case is even worse because those workers signed a contract as a part of their compensation package, the federal government has no such contract with you regarding social security. Bet you’d think it’s unfair though since you, much like the state employees, paid into the system and were assured that X dollars would be available upon retirement.

[prairiestate]

And you would be equally scr***d if your employer suddenly couldn't afford your salary or retirement benefits. So considering the stability of your potential employer might be worthwhile.

Regardless, these state employees were staggeringly greedy signing a contract with such lavish benefits. So again, how is it fair that my financial future gets wiped out to support them?

[My Kind Of Town]

Originally Posted by prairiestate

And you would be equally scr***d if your employer suddenly couldn't afford your salary or retirement benefits. So considering the stability of your potential employer might be worthwhile.

Regardless, these state employees were staggeringly greedy signing a contract with such lavish benefits. So again, how is it fair that my financial future gets wiped out to support them?

We are clearly not going to agree on this topic so I’m done discussing it with you.

[Hiruko]

Originally Posted by prairiestate

And you would be equally scr***d if your employer suddenly couldn't afford your salary or retirement benefits. So considering the stability of your potential employer might be worthwhile.

Regardless, these state employees were staggeringly greedy signing a contract with such lavish benefits. So again, how is it fair that my financial future gets wiped out to support them?

I actually agree with this. If you are an employee and a shareholder, as state employees are to a certain extent, they or their representatives should consider the fiscal health of their employer when negotiating wages and benefits.

There should not be any public employee unions. It represents a ridiculous conflict of interest. Public employee unions insist on laws that serve their interests at the expense of the common good.

[My Kind Of Town]

Originally Posted by Hiruko

I actually agree with this. If you are an employee and a shareholder, as state employees are to a certain extent, they or their representatives should consider the fiscal health of their employer when negotiating wages and benefits.

There should not be any public employee unions. It represents a ridiculous conflict of interest. Public employee unions insist on laws that serve their interests at the expense of the common good.

So those hired pre-2008 (nearly all Tier 1 employees) knew that the State would end up in the fiscal condition it is today? I challenge you to find a link from that timeframe pre-recession identifying the State of Illinois was headed for a financial meltdown. Heck, as recent as 2008, Moody’s credit rating for the State of Illinois was Aa3. Easy to say where we are today was the obvious outcome in hindsight...

[prairiestate]

Originally Posted by My Kind Of Town

So those hired pre-2008 (nearly all Tier 1 employees) knew that the State would end up in the fiscal condition it is today? I challenge you to find a link from that timeframe pre-recession identifying the State of Illinois was headed for a financial meltdown. Heck, as recent as 2008, Moody’s credit rating for the State of Illinois was Aa3. Easy to say where we are today was the obvious outcome in hindsight...

As recently as 2008, I knew Illinois was being run by corrupt politicians who were mismanaging the state. This should have been even more obvious to state employees, surrounded by political appointees and ghost payroll coworkers.

2008 was also when Blagojevich was arrested. You know, the guy who replaced the last governor, who also went to prison.

[My Kind Of Town]

Originally Posted by prairiestate

As recently as 2008, I knew Illinois was being run by corrupt politicians who were mismanaging the state. This should have been even more obvious to state employees, surrounded by political appointees and ghost payroll coworkers.

2008 was also when Blagojevich was arrested. You know, the guy who replaced the last governor, who also went to prison.

You just figured that out in 2008? Lol. This state has been run by corrupt politicians since the beginning of time. How did we manage to survive until now? You should read up on the long standing history of Illinois and Chicago political corruption. We were built on it, this isn’t something that just started in 2008 with Blago.

[Liledgy]

Originally Posted by prairiestate

As recently as 2008, I knew Illinois was being run by corrupt politicians who were mismanaging the state. This should have been even more obvious to state employees, surrounded by political appointees and ghost payroll coworkers.

2008 was also when Blagojevich was arrested. You know, the guy who replaced the last governor, who also went to prison.

And you stayed?