It's a hard time to be an Illinoisan; that is of course, unless you work for the governor. At a time when businesses have been forced to reduce salaries and lay-off workers, Gov. Pat Quinn has found the money in the state budget to grant his staff 43 salary increases averaging 11.4% in the last 15 months according to a recent article from the Associated Press. Illinois is in no position to indulge in this kind of fiscal policy; the recent ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index ranked the state's economic performance 48th in the nation. Illinois also has a chronically underfunded pension liability, which the Pew Center on the States recently described as the worst in the country. At the end of FY 2008 only 54% of their pension liability was funded, a significant lag behind the 80% benchmark. This behavior is characteristic of a government that would rather raise tax rates (like the 33% increase in the personal income tax rate suggested by Gov. Quinn) than scale back spending, a much more prudent way of addressing funding shortfalls. Gov. Quinn's hypocritical approach to fiscal policy calls for the legislature to raise revenue through tax hikes while he is using taxpayer money to pad the checks of his close circle of advisors. Gov. Quinn appears out of touch with the realities of Illinois' fiscal situation.
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