Will public pensions be taxed?

I was just reading this morning about a plan to tax retiree pension payments to offset the debt problems in Illinois.

The question arose in my mind as to whether public employee pension payments would be taxable along with everyone else's. Or whether public employees would be exempt because the tax would be an additional burden on them and therefore a diminishment of benefits prohibited by the constitution.

In this scenario public employees' pensions wouldn't be taxed, but everyone else's retiree benefits would.

I'm retired, interested and not a public employee.

Bill Amster

Elk Grove Village