VIDEO: One simple solution to brutal Illinois tax hikes

[VIDEO] At the expense of being accused of copyright infringement I just had to upload this editorial by the General Manager of our local FOX affiliate Dennis Welsh. With that in mind what you see above isn't owned by me, merely uploaded - unlisted - to my YouTube account. It is for educational purposes and for the sake of history that must be preserved.

Here's the pension language in the Illinois constitution contained in section 5 of article XIII. What's been put in bold were emphasized in the video above.

SECTION 5. PENSION AND RETIREMENT RIGHTS

Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.

(Source: Illinois Constitution.)

In 2008, this state had the opportunity to vote in favor of a state constitutional convention and it could've address this pension language. Unfortunately voters in Illinois voted against a convention because many arguments against this involved pensions.

Now with an income tax hike, sales tax in Chicago, and even a potential property tax increase for Chicago schools are mostly for pensions. As one of the people in the video above states less money for the students, for roads, or for police most of that money is going for public employees' - yes I'm including teachers in that - retirement!

To this I say what a shame! We've gotten ourselves in this mess and it's hard to get out because these government employees want their generous pensions. Taxes are going up because we can't afford them and it seems they will continue to go up as long as they use Illinois' constitution framework to fight any attempt to reform this system. It needs reform for sure!