Illinois is considered to be a “payer” or “donor” state because residents pay more in federal taxes than the state receives in the form of federal funds. Nationwide, Illinois gets back the fifth smallest amount of federal spending per capita for every dollar contributed to the federal tax system.

Comment: Waste of time on a $3-4M issue. Wait until they see what bankruptcy lawyers cost.

Good summary from a Wharton prof on the open issues a municipality faces in Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

Comment: It’s precisely their fault. Nekritz and Biss are can-kickers — they were primary authors of SB-1, the constitutionally doomed pension reform that wouldn’t even have reduced pension debt to the level it was when they started work on the bill. And the ever-clueless Robyn Gabel? Tax sugary drinks she says, “it worked in Mexico.”

To complicate matters even further, July 1 may not, in fact, be a hard deadline to reach an agreement on a budget, because payments are not made for the first two weeks of the new fiscal year until July 15.

Taxpayers United of America has a three-point strategy to battling the state’s pension crisis: a constitutional amendment to address guaranteed pensions, requiring workers to pay 10 percent more into the system and passing legislation allowing municipalities to declare bankruptcy.

AFSCME wants an 11.5 percent pay raise over four years, two years of full health benefits for laid-off employees and what the administration describes as a more costly health care plan that offers orthodontics for adults.