Mike Noland on H.B. 174
Dear Friends:
When I was elected as your State Senator, I knew that I would be handed a difficult task. However, I trust that I have continued to represent my constituents needs and wishes down in the Senate chambers of the General Assembly.I would like to address the current issue regarding the budget.
Recently, the Governor vetoed Senate Bill 1197 and House Bill 2145, appropriation bills that provide for spending without offsetting it with income. We are looking for a politically expedient solution without necessarily finding a long term cure for the problem. Again, this is fiscal irresponsibility and does not provide a balanced budget.Last week, I sent you all an email explaining my vote against S.B. 415. I stated that we couldn’t possibly take on more debt to pay current debt. I stated that doing such would not be fiscally sound and would only pass on our burden to future generations. I recommended pursuing a course that sought to remedy the solution and would not mistake a band-aid for the cure.
H.B. 174 is the cure.
H.B. 174, which I voted for, provides funding to our agencies and social service programs while cutting $2.1 billion in spending. H.B. 174 also offsets any revenue enhancements with tax credits for those families that need it the most. It is now up to the House of Representatives to call H.B. 174 for a vote and it is up to House Republicans to join in passing this bill so that Illinois can have a fiscally sound budget.
Faithfully,
Michael Noland
State Senator - 22nd District
H.B. 174 will raise your state income tax rate by 67%.
EDIT:
The bill will also impose new sales taxes on dozens of services, including: cable, Internet, tickets, dry cleaning, computer systems development (presumably including web design/development), photography, etc. Scroll down to the comment section to see a comprehensive list.
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Mike, thankyou for sending out several emails lately on this issue. This is exactly what the people need to stay and be informed of and about their govt. It also gives everyone a clear picture on where you stand on various issues in the dist. Keep up the flow of information on all related topics, this is a new approach from govt. the people need.
Mike Robins, Elgin city council candidate.
“Mike, thankyou ”
Who is Mike? Are you personally thanking Mike Noland here? This isn’t his website nor did he post the posted e-mail of his here! Why would you personally thank Noland here?
And you actually believe Noland is keeping us informed?
Noland’s e-mail, it appears to me, was designed specifically to keep us like mushrooms - in the dark and fed BS. If it wasn’t for the one line commentary by whoever posted Noland’s e-mail here, we wouldn’t have known Noland wants to raise our tax rates by 67%.
Thank you to whoever posted Noland’s e-mail and the commentary as to the consequences of Noland’s B.S. 174!
Please stop babbling about how unfair H.B. 174 is (it’s only a 2% income tax increase, but you know how funny math can get). Illinois’ tax system is broken and it needs to be fixed. I, for one, believe that Illinois legislators should do what is stated in the first line of our constitution: “provide for the health, safety and welfare of the people; maintain a representative and orderly government; eliminate poverty and inequality; assure legal, social and economic justice; provide opportunity for the fullest development of the individual; insure domestic tranquility; provide for the common defense; and secure the blessings of freedom and liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”
And if you want to know the facts about H.B. 174, read this: http://taxpayersforillinois.blogspot.com/2009/06/fact-sheet-house-bill-174.html
I would be all for a tax increase if I believed Springfield was not full of waste, corruption and waste. Budget and ethics reform is not too much to ask before we seek a tax increase.
How can we trust what they do with the money once they get it?
Dear Real…. I find it interesting that you are pointing the readers to an HB 174 Fact Sheet prepared by an organization that is funded by the following organizations (as listed on their website). Do you think they have a little bias???
American Federation of Teachers
AFSCME Council 31
AFSCME Retirees Chapter 31
Alphawood Foundation
Chicago Public Schools Public School Foundation
Illinois Education Association
Illinois Federation of Teachers
Individual Contributors
The Joyce Foundation
Northern Illinois University
Service Employee International Union
Service Employee International Union Local 1
State University Annuitants Association
Woods Fund of Chicago
Here’s an abstract of the bill for those who are interested:
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=750&GAID=9&GA=95&DocTypeID=SB&LegID=28735&SessionID=51
From the Tribune:
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/may/31/local/chi-legislature-budget-bd-31may31
I did not read the whole 226-page bill, but from what I gather, it will impose taxes on all of the following:
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/95/SB/PDF/09500SB0750lv.pdf
Take a look at that list to see where you’re going to be paying sales taxes in addition to your 67% income tax hike. Cable TV? Check. Need a new website? Check. Health club? Check. Internet? Check. Limo? Check. Golf? Movie tickets? Theater tickets? Check. Check. Check.
That list was taken from what I believe was the final version of the bill that passed the senate, and which Sen. Michael Noland voted for.
Let me know if any corrections need to be made.
I’ve briefly met Mike Noland twice. 1st, he came to my door once while running for office and he advocated a single-payer health care system. 2nd, he came to our polling station during an election refused to leave (he wanted to shake hands and pass out brochures in the polling area), so we Election judges had to call the police (who escorted him away).
With a 12 Billion dollar hole in the budget, I think it is unrealistic to expect the General Assembly to solve the problem without a net tax hike. The income tax is progressive (taxes more those who can afford it), so it is a good place to do it (in my opinion). However, I think it is equally important to cut spending to balance the budget. I think a dollar for dollar match in cuts vs. taxes is reasonable. The cuts should focus on overhauling the pension system for state workers. They shouldn’t be able to retire at 50 years old, nor should they get pensions of 80 or 85% of their pay for life. It is ridiculuous. Give them a 401K like everybody else with a 5% match.
That’s a good point about the pensions. It’s funny how nobody ever talks about reforming the pension system, and yet that’s where all the money is being spent.
They need to cut spending first, and they’re not going to do that if they manage to raise taxes and bring in billions in new revenue. If any government body has money, it will find a way to spend it, guaranteed. The only way we can get them to cut spending is by refusing to go along with a tax hike.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news&id=5312080
The top pensioner in Illinois receives more than $350,000 a year.
Pensions and benefits for the University of Illinois alone is more than half a billion per year.
First, Mike Noland was never passing out any materials in the election place. I remember that day, because I came in to vote. He came in to thank the election judges for participating in the “democratic process.” One of the judges stood up and said “Get the hell out of here!” At no point did Mike Noland (who we should refer to as Senator, seeing how he earned it) pass out election materials.
If I also remember, the election judges threatened to call the police on a Latino gentleman who was passing out literature more than 100 feet away from the polling place. At one point an election judge even mentioned immigration.
Simply, Todd you have no clue what you are talking about and the part you do talk about is riddled with fabrications.
The Illinois income tax is a FLAT tax and flat taxes are inherently regressive in nature. Why? The tax burden is heaviest on lower income families.
The pension system you critique was created under a Republican control of Springfield. How can we cut spending when we rank 39 out of 50 in terms of it? We spend less than 38 other states! We also have one of the largest populations in the United States.
We have a revenue problem in this state, not a spending problem.
AND Senator Noland was NEVER escorted away by police.
John,
I take great issue with your version of events. I was the one that had to pick up all the brochures he left lying around the building. I was the one who argued with him for several minutes (without any profanity) to leave the polling area. After he wouldn’t budge, we had to call the police. He did visit inside the building, but he then stuck around and insisted on greeting voters outside the front door. There is an “electioneering free zone” around the polling area, which he did not understand or comply with. We put up signs and tape to indicate where that zone is.
I did not hear any election judge use crude language with Mr. Noland. Perhaps that happened outside while I was attending the voters.
Second, we certainly did not threaten any latinos that night nor did we comment about illegal immigrants. Did you really “see” all that during your 5 minutes of voting? I was there for over 12 hours!
As for his title, you’re right that I should use it. However, I’m still mad at him for his behavior so I won’t.
John
It is wrong for someone making more money to be taxed higher just because they worked harder then someone else. The income tax should be abolished in the first place. Why should the government get its pound of flesh even before I get the money that I worker for! I support the idea of a national sales tax. Check out the book by Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder “The Fair Tax Book”
“(who we should refer to as Senator, seeing how he earned it)”
I call him Tax Hike Mike, seeing how he earned THAT.
“I call him Tax Hike Mike, seeing how he earned THAT.”
Good one.
Anyone with their hands in my pocket I call honey or thief. And I’m not calling Mike honey.
Anyone I’m paying the salary of should call me boss. And I’ll call them whatever I please. I earned it. I’m entitled; given it’s my money.
If anybody is wondering why I use “Mr.” when I refer to elected politicians such as Mike Noland, I am just following the standard practice of major media publications, such as the New York Times. It is not meant to signify any disrespect. When I use someone’s full name naked–or even just their last name, that again is standard practice. Nothing to fret about :)
Hi Todd. Let me talk to you about those pensions you have a hunch are draining the budget.
I have worked as a civil servant of the State of Illinois for 20 years at a university and contributed to the SURS pension fund mandatorily. When I started this job we had a choice of medical benefits plans with modest contributions being required to obtain coverage. Our options have dwindled and premiums jacked up over and over again. Each time the state gets into money trouble overfunding social programs without raising revenues in the state and throwing the rest of your money away to the winds of corruption, they steal from the pool of our pension money. Those monies do not get invested appropriately and grow interest to cover our pensions in the future, because our money is simply not put into the fund. Then you are told the workers pensions are the problem-not the graft, waste, corruption but people who work hard for little, at the bottom of the food chain. Then my yearly cost of living raise-3% spread out over 3 years-will fall hopelessly short of the inflation index-so I get more experienced and better at my job every year, and do it for less “money” than last year. In addition, the cost of benefits will go up more than the salary does to begin with, and I will be charged to park my car on state property to do my job on state property, as if I have a choice in this. This is what is it like for those who are NOT ON THE TAKE IN ILLINOIS but actually work here.
This is also one of only 4 states in the country that offsets our social security. What that means briefly, is that my husband works for 45 years and contributes to social security and I contributed for 15 years before I got the job for the state. Had I quit to stay home and raise children, we both collect full social security upon retirement from the federal government, but instead I took a “Secure job” with the state. Now when we retire we receive my modest office clerk’s state pension and a much much smaller piece of the social security we BOTH contributed than we should be entitled to as well. HE even GETS HIT financially. Now the federal government collected our social security money all those years, from him all along and from me until I worked for the state of Illinois, but the FEDERAL budget that collected those monies is not required to pay them back out to the two of us in proportion to our contributions because our STATE legislature tells them not to do so. Instead the feds get to rob us of much of what we are otherwise entitled to. No one explains this when you take the job for the state. We are one of four states out of 50 that signed off on this federal offset sweetheart deal under Reagan that gave the federal government my money and my husband’s to keep, instead of ethically paying it back. It makes no sense. We were not double dipping out of any pool If I worked for IBM I would get the pension I contributed to and the social security I contributed to as well. The Social Security fund and the state retirement pool of monies are completely unrelated. Those four states only agreed to let their workers be cheated this way as a political bargaining tool in Washington. Our corrupt politicians did this to us. They will not repeal this unjust provision either. Just give us back all our contributions to the pensions fund, and our previous contributions to social security and those of our spouses. Then give us the years of interest that would have grown on those monies over the decades they have been held by the state-the growth any very modest conservative fund would have yielded. I would be more than happy to invest it in that 401 K I cannot afford to open and sign away any right whatsoever to hand outs in the future. Our pension contributions generate so much revenue for the state that if you could do that for all of us, there would be no electric lights available in our state legislature. That much is financed on our backs.
Yes there are absolutely people at the top who are making way too much money and taking advantage of the tax payers. Find out who they are and fire THEM. Someone like me is probably doing the lion’s share of their work for no pay anyway. But do not think the working folks at the bottom are getting rich working for the state. A person doing what I do for a living in the private sector would earn an average of 40-50% more salary than I do to perform the same services!!!If I leap and go for one of those jobs, I won’t recoup the mandatory contributions to social security that new job requires of me, and I will collect an even smaller pension upon retirement. I am stuck.
Of course our administrators earn about equal to their private sector
So maybe some pf those people can actually retire with a pension in their 50’s like you said-but none of the middle managers on down can think about collecting those pensions before they are at least 65 or better.
So where is all our contribution money going? It isn’t into our pensions funds, our benefits, our pockets and we have to be afraid to retire as it is-who took it?
If the money was left in the bank the pension plans would be completely self-supporting with a profit margin. Instead money is skimmed off the funds and skimmed off the funds and then we blame the workers. I have a B.A. I have being doing the same clerical job 20 solid years. I make $15.00 an hour gross, before parking, insurance, pension, medicare etc. is subtracted. I take home $1,550.00 a month from my full time job 20 years after I started it.
Todd, we aren’t the ones draining the budget. Many of us have part time jobs and not just lately……
Kelly
Thanks Kelly for giving us a better idea about the situation. I know that the State was very irresponsible in borrowing money from the pension fund and the repayment schedule is causing a lot of budget issues.
I believe the State is now setting up a task force to give recommendations on reforming the Pension system. You can bet they will be advising cuts rather than increases. I would guess the new hires will be affected mostly.
At what age are you allowed to retire and draw your pension?
Hi Kelly, great data, you took the words right out of me and then some! The idea in the past and now for those working for govt. was and is that the private sector paid much more for what is done and had much better packages to retire with. The only thing worth govt. work is indeed the pension at the end.
Paul, I did receive the above email and several more from the senators office recently. All you need to do is email them with your intent to receive their info when available. Once informed, you can decide the validity of the content!
With regard to our per capita state spending, yes we are not the highest spenders. States with low population density are always going to be spending more per capita because they have a smaller divisor. For this reason, Alaska tops the list, followed by Wyoming and Vermont.
In any case, are we going to race each other to the bottom here? I really don’t think the goal is to be spending more than other states do. We should be racing to spend the least, not to spend the most.
I have trouble finding any sympathy for state empolyees who work hard and only get a 3% cost of living raise spread out over three years. How is the situation of a state employee any different than workers in the public sector. There is a myth (more like an outright denial) among many state workers that they get the short end of the stick. State employees have better job security, better benefits and in many cases higer pay for comperable jobs. A pension that allows you to retire early and is based on waht are often the highest earning years, is a luxury item that disappeared in the public sector 20 years ago.
Eliminate pensions for all state employees. I have heard the argument that state employees are not eligible for social securtiy, fine. If the state finds that it needs to pay higher salaries to workers to attract talent, fine. It would still be cheaper than the costs of pensions.
I agree with you, Erick, that it is a myth. And until something is done about this system, we cannot support a tax increase. It’s simply insane.
The top pensioner in the State of Illinois system makes $350,000 per year, and there are public school teachers making well over $200,000 per year.
http://www.championnews.net/article.php?sid=1103
And of course it’s the public sector in general, not just those who work for state government who have luxurious pensions. In fact, I’m aware of a City of Elgin employee who retired because his pension incentivized that. It was more lucrative for him, he said, to retire, take his pension and get another job as a consultant. In his own words, it was a deal he could not refuse.
While we hear about this at the state level, we should be aware that it’s also happening at the city level, and something needs to be done about that. The retirement age needs to be raised, the pensions capped, etc. They need to look into all the options, and I hope this new council does that.
At what point do we finally say NO to more taxes. This will effect everyone but especially small businesses who utilize many of these services on a day to day basis. I own an Interior Design Business. My fees to my clients would be taxed. Now I am sure you say, “if they could afford a designer, they can afford to pay the taxes”. However, every dollar that goes to something other than my fees, doesn’t end up purchasing goods or additional services. Those service fees I collect help me to pay a young single mom who helps me in my office. Those fees are what keep me in business supporting, a workroom staff, painters, carpenters, paperhangers and many others. So, then do I change the way I bill? Instead of a design fee do I just overcharge them on products? Because, many business will be looking for ways to skirt this tax. This is just canabalizing the money in the marketplace, it will not create in my opinion any real net gain. Please do not take any more of MY MONEY or MY CLIENTS MONEY away just to place it in the hands of one of the most INCOMPETENT STATE LESISLATORS in the USA.