THE GREAT AWAKENING

The Great Awakening-In God We Trust

The state of Illinois is at a fiscal tipping point. For years, the state has spent beyond its means and ignored its unpaid bills and obligations. Click here to learn more and view our audio power point.

Contact your lawmaker NOW and demand Reforms!

In FY2011, Illinois faces a $12 BILLION dollar structural budget deficit. More than half of that – $7 BILLION – is related to generous pension and retiree health care programs for government workers that the State simply cannot afford. These generous programs will have racked up more than $140 BILLION in debt and unfunded liabilities by the end of FY2011.

In Illinois, retirement-related debt makes up over 80% of the total liabilities of the state and its pension funds. These liabilities and the state’s budget gap put Illinois in a league of its own. Click here to read the complete Pew Study that ranks Illinois pensi....

In order to keep the pension funds from running out of money, the State will have to make massive contributions into the funds in future years. By 2020, these contributions will consume around 30% of the state’s “Big Three” tax revenues – from corporate and personal income taxes, and from sales taxes. By 2045, pension payments will eat up close to 50% of these revenues – crowding out dollars for education, public safety, health care for the poor, and other critical social services. Contact your lawmaker NOW and demand Reforms!

Illinois’ fiscal problems and the fact that we have no real plan for dealing with them have made our state one of the least attractive places for doing business. A recent survey of CEO’s placed Illinois at the bottom of the heap in terms of our attractiveness to business; and many of the other states at the bottom have already begun to take steps to address their fiscal problems.

Generous pension benefits that the State cannot afford are at the root of this problem. While the state took a step in the right direction last year by reforming benefits for NEW government workers, CURRENT government workers continue to participate in the State’s traditional and costly plans.

They can retire at age 55 or 60, and receive generous cost-of-living adjustments each year. These lifetime benefits can be worth more than $1 MILLION or more for a full-career employee who retires at 55 or 60. They are completely out-of-line with the benefits offered to taxpayers working in the private sector.

Yet the 95% of Illinois taxpayers who do not receive such generous benefits will pay higher taxes to pay for the 5% of state residents who do.

It is for these reasons and more that AFP-IL encourages you to contact your lawmakers today and demand that they reform the curren...

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