Illinois has quite the mess on its hands. The debt burden per Illinoisan is at $21,000 and climbing, and pension plans are completely cash-strapped. According to the Illinois Policy Institute, the state's pension plans are supposed to pay out $632 billion between now and 2045. But there's a slight problem: the plans only have $65 billion on hand.
Meanwhile, the State Legislature is too busy playing political games to seriously address this catastrophe, and Standard & Poor's, in a move that shocked no one, downgraded the state's credit rating.
In response to this debacle, NTU and the Illinois Policy Institute are working hard to educate Illinoisans on the current situation.
You can read NTU's open letter to Illinois taxpayers HERE.