It's time to chop down the tax tree

It is time for the State of Illinois, Cook County and all taxing bodies to tighten their belts and stop raising taxes and fees.

The taxpaying public has been conserving money for quite a few years now. We have reduced or dropped our medical insurance benefits and cut household expenses to the bone so we can put food on the table and pay our mortgages.

There is no money tree growing in the backyard, just the tax tree, which gets bigger every year.

My suggestion is that those paid through tax dollars earning more than $70,000 a year should pay for their own benefits. They can most certainly afford their own medical and life insurance.

One airplane commute trip to Chicago by the governor ($5,000) would almost pay my medical insurance for the year.

No need to threaten to cut middle class jobs and services, just cut benefits for those that are paid higher wages.

Start with those benefits. Then look at pensions, especially double dipping.

There should be one government pension plan, regardless of how many departments one has worked. Another option is to put them in Social Security combined with 401K and IRA plans.

After all, government pension plans seem to be under-funded and have undermined Social Security.

Next, take a look at the exorbitant salary increases. Social Security payments increased "by 2.3 percent in 2008, because of a rise in the cost of living." This is a direct quote from the benefit statements sent to recipients. The taxing entities and their employees should receive that same percentage for a cost-of-living raise.

Employees paid by taxes should learn to live like the taxpayers.

Sandra Kontos

Des Plaines