State Representative Tom Killion (R-168) will lead a town hall on pension reform, 6:30 p.m., Thursday, March 26 in Room 101 of the Main Building of Penn State Brandywine Campus, 25 Yearsley Mill Road, Media PA 19063.
RSVP is required and can be made by emailing your name, address and phone number to DO168@pahousegop.com or by calling 610-325-1541.
There is a pension crisis. The Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) and State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) have huge debts. Their combined unfunded liability is $50 billion.
Given that Pennsylvania’s population — including children — is 12.8 million, this means that every Pennsylvanian is on the hook for $3,900 to cover this.
Obviously, this burden is not shared equally and those who work and own property and refrain from shopping in Delaware will pay significantly more than that.
Local school districts contribute about 8.7 percent to PSER — which has about two-thirds of the liability — so the expectation is that property taxes will rise accordingly on top the raises caused by negotiated teacher salaries, automatic “step” increases and $136 million new edifices.
Attempts to turn the retirement plans for state workers and local teachers into the defined contribution 401K types that most of us have, have been unsuccessful as they have been met with vicious resistance from the lobbyists and contributors with whom are representatives are more likely to associate with than, well, us.
Of course, changing things to a 401K plan now is akin to closing the sty’s gate after the pig has left.
To save our standard of living we need outside-the-box thinking. The first thing is to demand a freeze on all salary increases for all public employees — including legislators. This also means no more automatic step increases for teachers much less negotiated ones.
Then restrict public projects to only what is necessary and require that they be done as cost-effectively as possible. This means repealing the prevailing wage law which is estimated to add 20 percent to the cost of public projects.
The final thing will be placing a 40 percent tax on public pensions to last until the books are balanced. Note, this will not be a surtax as these are not taxed now. Oh, will this cause screams. Oh, will those getting $48,000 pensions accuse those living on a $30,000 retirement or unemployment package, or working two jobs to make ends meet, or trying to figure out how to pay for a decent college for a couple of kids or trying to cover the Obamacare health insurance hikes of “H8ing” and being greedy, mean and unfair.
The appropriate response is but two words, the last being ’em.
A good explanation of pension crisis can be found in this Allentown Morning Call article. Note that it’s from 2012.
Hat tip Delaware County Patriots concerning Killion’s pension crisis town hall
Pension Crisis Town Hall
He needs to extend an invitation to Tom “Keystone Obama” Wolf.
Great job Bill! That’s telling it as clear as it gets.
We need to get rid of the public schools and the overpaid teachers.
So a public school employee should have a 40% tax on their pension, while corporations benefit from tax loopholes?
–So a public school employee should have a 40% tax on their pension–
Legislators too.
Just until the books are balanced.
OK, if you think 40 percent is kind of cold ($19,200 on a $48,000 pension) how about 10 percent, which would be on par with what taxpayers expect the bailout to ultimately cost them?
That’s just the bailout remember, not the other stuff that is slowly cooking the frog.
Regarding the corporations, spell out the loopholes and we can get rid of them. I suspect, though, if you look into it you will find the loopholes less offensive than the subsidies: http://thephilanews.com/tag/redevelopment-capital-assistance-program/
Why is the onus on pensioners? Did they cause the pension problem?
–Why is the onus on pensioners? Did they cause the pension problem?–
No more than homeowners or small business owners.
OK, actually a little more. But this isn’t about being mean though. It’s about making sure the pain is minimal for those who can least stand it while making sure the government remains functioning. A retiree with a $48,000 pension can withstand a little more of this kind of pain than most.
Still no extraction tax on natural gas. Many of the largest corporations still pay little or no PA Tax, putting the burden on individuals in the form of skyrocketing local property taxes.
Stop blaming hard working Americans for the mess we’re in. Stop defending big corporations. We all get you conflating school teachers and their unions with pigs. I do not like it.
–Still no extraction tax on natural gas. —
How is the lack of a tax a loophole or a subsidy?
–Stop defending big corporations.–
Where does that come from? Spell out exactly what these “big corporations” have to do with these government pension plans?
Do you feel a person with a pension of $48,000 per should not be expected to chip in to deal with this mess as you expect homeowner on a fixed income two-thirds to do? Do you believe that person with a pension of $48,000 should, maybe, be expected to chip in a little more?