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Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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I moved from IL to SC and saved $10K in property taxes and additional savings in sales tax, car and homeowners insurance. Why should I stick around in IL and pay $10K surcharge in the hope things might change? 113,000 left IL from 2020 to 2021 and more from 2021 to 2022. I’d bet the majority were Republicans who felt the same way. So who is left that wants to change things?
Everyone’s situation is different. A couple of retired public pensioners from Illinois would pay about 15k in income tax in SC but pay zero in Illinois. The additional expense for the income taxes in SC may not make up for the property tax savings. Plus, money is only one component that determines where one lives.
Since you don’t live here, Gov. McMaster just signed legislation lowering income taxes on retirees to next to nothing. So did Kemp in GA. We paid $237 in heating expenses last winter. You’re going to pay that monthly. 7% sales tax, especially on groceries, will save at least a thousand. We complained when gas reached $4/gal, what was your highest, esp. in Chicago? Keep drinking the IL kool aid.
Thanks for the update Wally. I didn’t realize that SC had done that. That changes the math quite a bit. It will definitely be on my short list of where to move. Could you please provide the specifics or a link to these changes? The only thing that I’ve seen is a 15k deduction of a retirees income and that’s not until 65. The 15k deduction for a couple of public pensioners making 270k per year combined doesn’t seem to help that much and definitely doesn’t lower it to next to nothing. You’re right that I don’t live in SC… Read more »
Taxes for thee, not for me.
google “McMaster signs tax relief bill”. Should send you to centersquare.com. SC and GA trying to become more like FL. My accountant happy
In May of 2022, McMaster signed a tax relief bill that exempted military retirement benefits from SC income taxes. Nothing indicates this is for other pension income or retirement savings withdrawals. Why would he sign a bill just for military veterans and also have a bill for non-military? He wouldn’t, so I’m left to believe that you were mistaken or 3 different articles on the subject were incomplete. For the situation I mentioned above, the income tax bill would be 15K in taxes for SC. Illinois $0, Tennessee $0, Florida $0. Georgia $5900, Wisconsin $7500, Indiana $7900, Iowa $11,500. SC… Read more »
This is a great calculator to use when planning for retirement and comparing locations.
https://smartasset.com/retirement/retirement-taxes
Thanks for the link.
Fool
As long as anyone with a D behind their/they/them/xir/xi name runs the city, chicago will continue to circle downward like a turd in a toilet bowl until the city ifs finally burned to the ground. We have only to look to detroit for an example of this immutable truth.
Pritzker is confident he can steal any election in IL. The public employee unions are confident they can get whatever they want. The Leftist Democrats are confident they’ll get whatever they want. The Leftist Democrats are certain they will get whatever taxes are needed to maintain the status quo.
We tried to warn people years ago that things needed to change significantly in IL – We were laughed at and called ‘racists’ and ‘rubes’ by the establishment media.
It’s too late – IL is unfixable. Let it collapse and hopefully it will serve as a warning to others.
Many volunteers are realizing that they were just useful idiots for corrupt insiders, enabling the plates to keep spinning in the air while the bad guys thrived, kept safe from the seething exploited masses that the bad guys loathe but need.
I respectfully suggest: find somebody/or many somebodies in need, personally vet them, help them personally and quietly yourself. Don’t talk about it, don’t try to ‘organize’.
And, forget about backing humans in politics. Use efforts to uncover corruption, then expose it and litigate. Back specific policies, not people.