Chicago’s largest employers are recommending the state pay off more than $130 billion in pension debt largely through a series of tax hikes. It’s not a perfect plan. But it gets one thing right: The crisis can’t wait.
It’s not every day that a group of corporate chieftains makes a forceful and concerted argument for a tax increase. And yet, Chicago’s largest employers, members of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, did just that on Feb. 5, recommending to new Gov. J.B. Pritzker a plan to pay off more than $130 billion in state pension debt largely through a series of significant tax hikes.
