More to worry about than pensions

Shouldn’t our state legislators be discussing stagnant or falling wages and a more equitable tax system in Illinois, the state’s crumbling infrastructure, economic growth, debt payments, public education, and sustainable energy sources instead of ill-advised pension reform such as SB 512?

Shouldn’t they be creating a jobs’ reform bill and awarding employers with tax credits for creating jobs in Illinois? Shouldn’t they be working together to establish a revenue system with a balanced but low and broad tax base to spread the burden of taxes to multiple citizen payers and restructuring the state’s antiquated single-rate income-tax method, and considering the taxation of services in Illinois to reflect its 2011 economy and increase the state’s cash flow?

Shouldn’t our state legislators be raising taxes on the wealthy (their tax rates are the lowest they have been in 80 years) and eliminating their deductions and loopholes, while cutting taxes for the middle class and expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit for the poor?

What does pension sustainability have to do with a state’s deficit reduction when it is a symptom of more substantial issues that need to be addressed, of which many are in a cause-and-effect relationship with a public pension’s solvency? Will focusing on public pensions’ unfunded liability (pension plans will always have liabilities) revive the Illinois economy and produce jobs? Are Illinois legislators holding the public employees’ pensions hostage the way a certain fanatical and pigheaded minority held the “debt ceiling” hostage at the federal level?

Illinois’ public pensions are not in any imminent danger of financial collapse. Pension fund liabilities are long-term and do not face an urgent liquidity crisis today, tomorrow, or in the immediate future.

Glen Brown

Naperville