Report: Illinois Budget Deficits Will Rise Despite Pension Reform
From the Springfield State Journal-Register
A new report shows that Illinois’ recently enacted pension reform law will not eliminate the state’s chronic structural deficit.
Released by the Fiscal Futures Project of the Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, the report says that even keeping the temporary income tax increase in place, coupled with pension reforms, the state’s budget deficit will continue to grow.
“The pension revision law of December 2013 was a huge step in the direction of fiscal stability for Illinois,” the report says. “Unfortunately, the state’s fiscal problems are so great that much remains to be done.”
Richard Dye, a co-author of the report, said it was important to illustrate that enacting pension reform was not a solution to the state’s budget problems.
“I think the fiscal problems of the state are not well enough understood that some might have been expecting that,” Dye said. “People should take (the report) as a reason not to be complacent, not to confuse the major and necessary changes in pension reform as solving the state’s problems. There’s still a long way to go.”
The report assumes that the pension changes will be upheld by the courts, something the report acknowledges may not happen. It also analyzed the budget deficit both from the angle that the temporary income tax increase will be made permanent and that it will be allowed to expire at the end of 2014.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Springfield State Journal-Register
A new report shows that Illinois’ recently enacted pension reform law will not eliminate the state’s chronic structural deficit.
Released by the Fiscal Futures Project of the Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, the report says that even keeping the temporary income tax increase in place, coupled with pension reforms, the state’s budget deficit will continue to grow.
“The pension revision law of December 2013 was a huge step in the direction of fiscal stability for Illinois,” the report says. “Unfortunately, the state’s fiscal problems are so great that much remains to be done.”
Richard Dye, a co-author of the report, said it was important to illustrate that enacting pension reform was not a solution to the state’s budget problems.
“I think the fiscal problems of the state are not well enough understood that some might have been expecting that,” Dye said. “People should take (the report) as a reason not to be complacent, not to confuse the major and necessary changes in pension reform as solving the state’s problems. There’s still a long way to go.”
The report assumes that the pension changes will be upheld by the courts, something the report acknowledges may not happen. It also analyzed the budget deficit both from the angle that the temporary income tax increase will be made permanent and that it will be allowed to expire at the end of 2014.
Read more in our daily News Update...