Legislators have not shown responsibility
On May 14, a letter from state Rep. Dan Didech expressed his enthusiasm for a constitutional convention to change the way Illinois taxes our income. My question to him is, do you have as much enthusiasm for stopping the rules that allow for pension abuse to be heaped upon every citizen?
Why would you want to increase the tax burden when it exists and grows because of a retirement plan that is not sustainable?
My employer, a Fortune 50 company, has stopped their pension plan because they recognized it cannot be maintained with a sustainable budget despite strong profits. If business recognizes the lack of sustainability, why can't our elected officials see it? No I do not favor providing another method of taxation that can be expanded on a whim by a legislature that doesn't have the common sense required to identify the real issue.
This brings me to the letter from Carolyn Quinn May 17. Yes, the state is in fiscal trouble. We continue to spend more money than we take in. Additional revenue will not be used to fund new giveaway programs. It will be used to pay old debts that have been accumulating for over 50 years when the pension system was written into the state constitution. Our legislature has "kicked the can down the road" to the point where they cannot ignore it anymore.
A new taxing system is not the cure. It will be the beginning of more need for more money until all of the people feel the same kind of pinch in their paychecks that they are feeling now with the real estate taxes.
Where is your evidence that this "Fair Tax" will remain at the proposed levels for all residents for more than a year?
Steve Bond
Hoffman Estates