Pritzker plan and pensions

Everyone enjoys having someone else pay for an expensive meal. Just take a look at Illinois pensions. Gov. J.B. Pritzker's progressive income tax proposal is just another version of kicking the can down the road rather than solving the problem.

Only $200 million of the potential $3.4 billion would go toward the pension deficit. Illinois politicians will spend everything they get and more. Remember when the tax rate went from 3 percent to 5 percent in 2011, yet the budget was never balanced and the pension deficit mushroomed? Bribing 97 percent of the voters $20 to $65 each to approve a flat tax constitutional amendment will only open the door to future increases which do not require voter approval.

We need to get to the pension "off ramp" by having a constitutional amendment to protect already earned benefits and tie future benefits to what taxpayers can truly afford. J.B.'s proposal pretends the pension problem does not exist. Just remember when all else fails, making pensions taxable would bring the state $2 billion more in revenue. See, you, too, could be among the "rich" asked to pay more in the future.

We are all in this together. We need a real solution. Even if J.B. turned over all his billions to the state, it would not even make a dent.

Willam Lannin

Naperville