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Ah Illinois. That's where I live. We have the #1 highest taxes in the USA. Yes! And billions more in taxes gained from a vast legal marijuana industry. And ou

Ah Illinois. That's where I live. We have the #1 highest taxes in the USA. Yes! And billions more in taxes gained from a vast legal marijuana industry. And our many prisons. And abortion tourism. And incredibly expensive rest homes for the elderly. All that tax money disappears like magic. Where'd it go?? We are famous for our corrupt politicians and soft-minded citizens.

lotsofpulp 4y ago
> Where'd it go?? Previously unaccounted for labor costs. Bought x amount of labor yesterday by paying y > x tomorrow, but not acknowledging y > x in any official reports. And, of course, there was most likely some loss due to corrupt investments. Note that federal laws exempted taxpayer funded deferred compensation schemes from laws such as ERISA 1974 and PPA 2006 specifically because taxes can be increased in the future, so why bother preventing future taxpayers from having to pay for previous generations of taxpayers?
gautamdivgi 4y ago
The story allegedly is that it goes down the government pensions sink hole. That pension thing is crazy in and of itself. They put a commitment to fund pensions in the constitution. It’s nuts.
- swayvil 4y ago
  Oh what a tasty bit of propagandistic argumentation that is. The reaction : everybody with a pension, or expecting a pension, fearful of losing their nestegg, rallys to defend the high taxes. And wailing fills the air, obscuring further discussion.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  The government pensions sink hole was investing the cash with insiders who lost and stole it all, so it became a constant drain to pay out. They put a commitment to fund pensions in the constitution because the retirees who worked for bad salaries in exchange for these pensions deserve not to have to continue to fight for them. I would ask you to research John Filan for more details, but you'll find very little because this kind of history gets erased and substituted for angry rants about some appointee retiring at 45 on 3x his salary, to his own consulting company whose only client is the state, or a lobbying firm. As a reaction to those rants, it's retired teachers, DMV clerks, and garbagemen that get shit on. edit: this is absurdly detailed, although it glosses over a lot of stuff that Crain's ideologically approves of https://www.chicagobusiness.com/static/section/pensions.html https://www.chicagobusiness.com/static/section/pensions.html

lotsofpulp 4y ago

> Where'd it go?? Previously unaccounted for labor costs. Bought x amount of labor yesterday by paying y > x tomorrow, but not acknowledging y > x in any official reports. And, of course, there was most likely some loss due to corrupt investments. Note that federal laws exempted taxpayer funded deferred compensation schemes from laws such as ERISA 1974 and PPA 2006 specifically because taxes can be increased in the future, so why bother preventing future taxpayers from having to pay for previous generations of taxpayers?

gautamdivgi 4y ago

The story allegedly is that it goes down the government pensions sink hole. That pension thing is crazy in and of itself. They put a commitment to fund pensions in the constitution. It’s nuts.

swayvil 4y ago
Oh what a tasty bit of propagandistic argumentation that is. The reaction : everybody with a pension, or expecting a pension, fearful of losing their nestegg, rallys to defend the high taxes. And wailing fills the air, obscuring further discussion.
pessimizer 4y ago
The government pensions sink hole was investing the cash with insiders who lost and stole it all, so it became a constant drain to pay out. They put a commitment to fund pensions in the constitution because the retirees who worked for bad salaries in exchange for these pensions deserve not to have to continue to fight for them. I would ask you to research John Filan for more details, but you'll find very little because this kind of history gets erased and substituted for angry rants about some appointee retiring at 45 on 3x his salary, to his own consulting company whose only client is the state, or a lobbying firm. As a reaction to those rants, it's retired teachers, DMV clerks, and garbagemen that get shit on. edit: this is absurdly detailed, although it glosses over a lot of stuff that Crain's ideologically approves of https://www.chicagobusiness.com/static/section/pensions.html https://www.chicagobusiness.com/static/section/pensions.html