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“What we were talking about when we talked about retirement income were people … drawing about a half a million dollars a year in pension income,” Frerichs said. “I was talking about an organization that has for years has argued for reducing pension benefits and then was taking the opposite and contractionary opinion.”
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Audio and summary Illinois bill would override local law to allow homeless living in all public parks – Wirepoints
April 14, 2026
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If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago Fiscal Crisis Worse Than Pre-Bankruptcy Detroit, HIV Surge and Public Health Threat From Open Borders Goes Unreported
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Summary and audio linked here.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago pension buyout plan mostly shifts debt rather than eliminating it, property tax surge doubles inflation over three decades
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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.
WBEZ and Chicago Sun-Times falsely blame Texas Gov. Abbott for 2020 to 2024 surge in Chicago Latino HIV, AIDS infections – Wirepoints Quickpoint
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11 Comments
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
How about those who work in government do as many do and fund their own retirement?
What a novel idea.
Its not so novel at all–just not doable in political and practical ways under the state’s present set of circumstances. Read other recent postings here on that topic, and there were a even a few earlier today as examples on that argument.
Just some info. There was talk a while back about taxing private retirements to pay for public pensions. There is a video- “Stuart Varney taxing private retirement accounts” from Feb 18,2019. Basically anything will be on the table if the progressive tax fails. There was also an idea floating around to have a 1% state wide property tax on top of your normal property tax.
I see the “modest” McMansions in the $1.5-2.5 million range in suburban Chicago now selling at reducing prices, but I I also see smaller numbers of new home construction more likely costing at least triple that still going on, too. Those people apparently aren’t hurting as much financially. Most people struggle to make ends meet, some survive well enough by making a few lifestyle changes and others live without a financial care in the world. That’s the perpetual beauty-and-woe paradox of living in America.
Well said. Here in Rockford just a few years back the largest home builder was Habitat for Humanity. Many others builders went out of business. There is some new construction going on but not much. Some homes here that were around $600K (very few) are now $450K and tax’s are approx $20K. They built a HUD housing complex here called “The Grove” 47units town home style at $150K each plus community center and zero tax’s are paid and I pay $7K for a $172K value.
Freddy, Yes I also remember this being talked about, but I can only imagine the out migration or lawsuits if this state was to impose a 1% property tax on top of what is being payed now, people will lose there homes at a faster rate than what is going on now. It was a tax if I remember correctly was going to be used to pay for the pension debt and last about 10 years. I think it was the block club of Chicago that is pushing this tax, what we need is a property tax freeze on the… Read more »
Of course taxing retirement income above a certain level will happen once the progressive income tax amendment passes. Did anyone think otherwise? The only questions are at what level will it be taxed and how long before that threshold is lowered to capture more taxpayers. They will be able to stick it to those “fat cat public pensioners” and at the same time go after the private retirees that have been “hoarding” their wealth. It will garner wide spread support as long as the income amount doesn’t get too low.
Surely we all realize by now that the unstated evental outcome of the “fair tax” is that it will cause huge numbers of the wealther in IL to move elsewhere. Then, you have to think that increasing outflow also will include retirees since they generallly have the ability to move more readily than those who are place-bound for their income.
As long as they collect more revenue than what is lost from people moving it won’t matter to the them. If I double my price of widgets I don’t really care if I lose 10% of my customers. Illinois has increased income taxes for the individual by around 70% in the last 10 years and the population has only declined by about 1.5-2%. Not to mention all the property tax increases. Population decline makes for great headlines but until it reaches a level where tax revenue declines they will just continue. Why would they do any different? The voters continue… Read more »
I agree with all of your comments here. I used ther term eventual (spelled incorrectly) and I meant EVENTUAL in the sense that this whole out-migration process will occur as a “death of a thousand cuts,” unnoticeable at first and for a good while afterwards. But, at some point that process will be so burdensome on those who remain that real decisions will at last have to be made on the topics of both revenue and expenses for the various levels of IL government. So far, the real decisions needed are forever delayed by political posturing, of course.
I was talking with my accountant and he said some states that have an influx of retirees are floating the idea of taxing pension income. That might help keep some of the retirees here.
As long as Florida, Tennessee, and Indiana don’t tax retirement income I’m not sure it will matter. The first two states don’t tax any income so I doubt they are prepared to tax just retirement income. Imagine someone making 250K in retirement. You know one of those evil couples that worked as teachers in Illinois. Let’s say after the progressive tax amendment passes and the state starts taxing retirement income above 50K per year at 4.95%. The state would now want to tax about 10k per year from this couple. Another 5-10k per year savings on property taxes. That’s a… Read more »
Little late, you opened your mouth and let the cat outta of the bag. Again as usual in the political forum in Illinois, a day late and a dollar short. I can bet everyone of you corrupt politicians are not smarter than a 5th grader.
It only took 2 months to clarify bullshit cats outta the bag
Take take take. Those in retirement better leave leave leave Illinois