"Previous legislators and previous governors even awarded taxpayer funded health insurance benefits to themselves and 82,000 retirees, where 90 percent of them pay nothing on their insurance premiums. This lack of fiscal accountability has cost us dearly today."—Gov. Pat Quinn, Feb. 22, 2012
"All told, state government is on pace to spend nearly $1 billion on retiree health care benefits in fiscal year 2013, more than double what it spent in 2003. Worse yet, these liabilities are growing more than twice as fast as tax revenues."
—Illinois Policy Institute, April 9, 2012
The state of Illinois admits to $83 billion in pension underfunding, a staggering weight on today's and tomorrow's taxpayers. Add to that the as yet uncalculated billions in unfunded pension obligations for city, county and other local governments. During a Tribune forum Wednesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel explained how that overhang — some estimates run far higher — deters businesses from locating in Chicago: Companies don't want to buy shares in a phenomenal tax burden that will unfold over decades. Read More
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