'Doomsday is Here for the State of Illinois'

First comes doomsday in Illinois. Then probably for the rest of us.

In order to crawl from beneath crushing debt and reach fiscal solvency, Illinois legislators must choose from a series of options that range from bad to worse, according to a prominent watchdog group.

The Civic Federation wants to launch an intervention that includes significant budget cuts and the largest tax increase package in Illinois history, all in an effort to save the state from a $12.8 billion budget deficit.

“Doomsday is here for the state of Illinois,” said Laurence Msall, Civic Federation President, to the Sun-Times.

The group says it would support a state income tax increase from 3 percent to 5 percent. It also recommends the state tax retirees’ pension and Social Security checks be taxed for the first time at the same rate as workers’ paychecks. They want another $1 increase on a pack of cigarettes and to eliminate $181 million in corporate tax breaks.

If implemented, the Federation's recommendations could shave off $8 billion, but there is a catch.

In order to implement those increases, the Civic Federation says unions should pay more toward their pensions and health care -- but the unions aren't interested.

Of course the unions aren't interested. They care only about themselves. It's the rest of the taxpaying public that has to support these goons.