The Illinois Pension Problem: Jonathan Williams in The Center Square
Every man, woman and child in Illinois is on the hook for $37,000 for the state’s unfunded public pension liabilities
Jonathan Williams, ALEC’s EVP of Policy and Chief Economist, relays on The Center Square the economic risks to Illinois due to unfunded pension liabilities.
The seventh annual American Legislative Exchange Council’s “Unaccountable and Unaffordable” report on public pension liabilities pegs the amount of debt across the nation at nearly $7 trillion. Illinois comes in second to last. “We see the liabilities are truly in a really scary scenario for Illinois for the future, looking at nearly $37,000 in unfunded liabilities for every man, woman and child in the state of Illinois.”
“There’s consistency at the bottom of the rankings for Illinois in all of the categories we look at, Illinois is among the worst in the nation. The risk is shared not just among taxpayers but workers as well who need to increase their own contributions to the plan in their investments fall short of their goal,” Williams said. “So, we’ve seen some really innovative ways that states have begun to tackle liabilities.”