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.
If Illinois ever starts taxing retirement income, that’s when the mass exodus will truly begin. I’m sure it was JB’s plan to go after wealthy retirees if his progressive tax had passed. Individuals with large pensions, significant 401K distributions and social security income don’t have to move to a tax free state to shield their income….yet.