Lake County Gazette

The head of a conservative watchdog group said that Democrats are passing up pension reform by considering new taxes to support the "broken system."

"They know people want to see pension reform, but all they're offering up are [more] taxes, more throwing money into a broken system," Wirepoints president Ted Dabrowski told the Lake County Gazette. "People have had enough, and they'll view this as an insult."

Three months after voters soundly rejected a similar progressive tax proposal, House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch (D-Hillside) recently revealed the state might soon seek a redo on the policy supporters insist will only mean higher taxes for the rich.

Welch said this time around, most of the tax revenue generated will go toward paying down the state's $141 billion debt in unfunded pension liability.

Dabrowski said that voters had heard such statements before.

"It's [a] no better idea when voters rejected it back in November," he said. "I think people are learning more and more about how broken this pension system is, and they're eager to reject this tax again. They're sensing just how corrupt their government has been, and they've had enough of all the gimmicks."

Dabrowski said a new Moody's Analytics report that shoed pension debt rose by $56 billion last year to at least $317 billion overall is just more fuel for the fire.

"It proves tax hikes like this won't begin to fix the problem," he said. "The only answer is real reform, and Democrats haven't shown any willingness to do that."

In November, the progressive tax earned more than 47%, which was far from the 60% support it needed for passage.

The measure fell woefully short despite Gov. J.B. Pritzker pumping millions of dollars of his own money into a campaign designed to turn it into law.