At Issue: Sharon Fairley Against Taxing Retirement Income To Balance State Budget
CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A Democratic Attorney General candidate is taking a dim view of a suggestion that Illinois consider taxing retirement benefits to help balance the budget.
Among many suggestions for balancing Illinois' budget and paying down its debts, the non-partisan Civic Federation, again, suggests the state tax retirement income. Most states do, but not Illinois. WBBM's Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports.
Sharon Fairley, a Democratic Candidate for Attorney General doesn't think much of the idea.
"I believe that retirees who have sort of planned their lives around a certain amount of income, including the way their income is being taxed is not a great solution and I would prefer to find alternatives before I went there," she said.
Still, Fairley feels the legislature and political leaders are not dealing realistically with the pension crisis, proposing restrictions on benefits that are clearly unconstitutional.
"Kwame Raoul sponsored the pension reform bill and then Governor Quinn signed it. Looking at this piece of legislation, it is really unconstitutional on its face. And so to me, this is just another example of political leaders doing something just so that they can say they did something," she said.
Former Police Accountability Chief Sharon Fairley is the guest on our At Issue program this weekend and you can hear more of her thoughts Sunday at 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m.
