ILLINOIS HOUSE SPEAKER UNWILLING TO TAKE VOTERS’ ‘NO’ ON ‘FAIR TAX’ FOR AN ANSWER

Link: https://www.illinoispolicy.org/illinois-house-speaker-unwilling-to-take-voters-no-on-fair-tax-for-an-answer/

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Excerpt:

Pension costs are already eating away at Illinois government services. The ballooning costs caused a nearly one-third cut since 2000 in core services such as child protection, state police, mental health and college money for low-income students.

Pension contributions accounted for less than 4% of Illinois’ general funds budget from 1990 through 1997 but have grown to consume 28.5% of the budget. Still, the pension debt has mushroomed to $144.4 billion by the state’s estimates, which more realistically was at an all-time high of $261 billion at the end of fiscal year 2020 according to Moody’s Investors Service calculations using more realistic assumptions. In any case, public pension debt is eating a larger chunk of Illinois’ gross domestic product than anywhere else.

Author(s): Adam Schuster

Publication Date: 25 February 2021

Publication Site: Illinois Policy Institute