Your property taxes pay for government workers’ guaranteed salaries, benefits and pensions while you get no such guarantees – Wirepoints on with Jeff Daly of WZUS Decatur Radio
April 18, 2024
1 Comment
Ted joined Jeff Daly to discuss why Illinois’ property taxes are such a national outlier, why Illinoisans are forced to pay the high, guaranteed salaries, benefits and pensions of the government class, why Illinoisans aren’t getting their money’s worth for what they pay, the teachers unions’ influence over elections, and more.
A set of state lawmakers want to extend CPS’ current school closing moratorium to February 1, 2027 – the same year CPS is set to transition to a fully-elected school board. That means schools like Manley High School, with capacity for more than 1,000 students but enrollment of just 78, can’t be closed for anther three years. The school spends $45,000 per student, but just 2.4% of students read at grade level.
Hopefully, all media will get the message, in Illinois, too.
Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about Illinois’ highest-in-the-nation property taxes, why lawmakers don’t want to touch the tax’s cost drivers, just how much Illinoisans’ tax burden has grown over the decades, why Gov. Pritzker failed to meet his promise to reform property taxes, and more.
Prairiejane-
Yes, I think you can. It’s generally agreed that one constitutional approach is to leave the existing pensions as they are but set up an alternative for pensioners to opt into. That alternative plan could have the elements I suggest or whatever else the state decides. An option to cash out of one’s interest in the old fund might also be offered. The state would then proceed to properly fund the new plan but starve they old one (though they might not say that expressly). Rational pensioners would then opt out of the old one, thereby replacing it.
you can’t possible set up classes and make cuts that way in light of the constituional prohibition.