Opinions
Daily Chronicle • www.daily-chronicle.com • Page A9 • Friday, December 13, 2013
8OUR VIEW
8SKETCH VIEW
Illinois needs tax reform
8LETTERS TO THE EDITOR State pensions still broken To the Editor: It just needs to be said. Don’t allow the hype about the recently passed pension bill to mislead you. The General Assembly has failed the taxpayer, again. While the measure to reduce the cost of living adjustment provides near term savings, it is a drop in the bucket of the reform necessary to provide meaningful taxpayer relief. But, real relief obviously wasn’t their objective. The bill’s measure to increase the retirement age is deceiving. It still allows state employees and teachers currently age 45 and older to retire with a full pension at the age of 60, or as
young as age 55 with 30 years of service. The savings provided won’t be fully realized for years. Moreover, the bill did little to rein in the generous monthly pension except to establish an $110,000 per year cap on which a pension is based. Monthly pensions will still be determined as the product of 2.2 percent for each year of service and the employee’s or teacher’s average of their high 48-month incomes (high-48) (high 120-month for new employees). Thus, 20 years of service yields a monthly pension of 44 percent of the high-48/high-120 up to the new cap, 30 years of
service yields 66 percent and so on up to 75 percent maximum. In contrast, a 30-year state pension is double the benefit a private sector employee can expect from Social Security for a comparable middle income high-48. As might be expected, General Assembly members are provided with an even more generous pension which is capped at 85 percent of their final salary after 20 years of service and which can begin at age 55. It should not come as any surprise that the majority of the pension system’s cost has been allotted to the taxpayer. This reality is the primary reason for the so-called temporary state
income tax rate increase from 3 to 5 percent imposed in 2011. But despite this reality, the new bill reduced the employee’s/teacher’s contribution by 1 percent instead of increasing it by an appropriate amount to at least achieve funding parity with the taxpayer’s contribution. As it stands, don’t expect the 3 percent income tax rate to return any time soon, if at all. The state pension system is still broken. It is time for the taxpayer, and notably the private sector, to elect members to the General Assembly who will work for real pension reform. Gary Moberg Sycamore
With Pope Francis, ‘Time’ got it just right In choosing Pope Francis as its Person of the Year, Time magazine dared to commit an almost unthinkable act in modern-day journalism. It chose to celebrate hope – and civility. A key phrase in its long cover story, written by Howard Chua-Eoan and Elizabeth Dias: “This new Pope may have found a way out of the 20th century culture wars.” Time’s choice has launched countless critics, of course. I, too, lament that only five women have made the stand-alone cut. I understand why National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden’s runner-up finish set off a round of criticism steeped in disbelief from his defenders. Nevertheless, I think Time got this one just right. I am not Catholic and have been critical of the church for mishandling the pedophile sex scandal and its backward views of women and the gay community. There are always more battles to be won. But Time’s decision to honor this gentle warrior for social and economic justice speaks to a national yearning. Any journalist willing to talk to people outside the Beltway knows this to be true: The majority of citizens have had it with the state of discourse in this country, particularly in our nation’s capital. People are hurting, and they are desperate for reasons to hope. As Time’s story noted, the pope is cannier than his gentle demeanor suggests: “He makes masterly use of 21st century tools to perform his 1st century office. He is photographed washing the feet of female convicts, posing for selfies with young visitors to the Vatican, embracing a man with a deformed face. He is quoted saying of women who consider abortion because of poverty or rape, ‘Who can remain unmoved before such painful situations?’ Of gay people: ‘If a homosexual person is of good will and is in search of God, I am no one to judge.’ To divorced and remarried Catholics who are, by rule, forbidden from taking
VIEWS Connie Schultz Communion, he says that this crucial rite ‘is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.’ ” And then he took on capitalism. “We also have to say ‘thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality,” he wrote. “Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.” It’s enough to take our breath away. Perhaps timing has informed my response. Earlier this week, I joined dozens of fellow journalists for an off-the-record conference to address incivility in the media. Convened in Washington, D.C., by the Newseum, The Poynter Institute for Media Studies and the National Institute for Civil Discourse, we worked hard to define our core values as journalists and explore our influence – currently and moving forward – on the state of discourse in this country. Sarika Bansal was one of the presenters. She is director of partnerships for the Solutions Journalism Network, which supports reporting that includes successful responses to social problems. After the conference, the mixed reactions to Time’s selection of Pope Francis prompted me to reach out to her. What did she make of the critics, I wondered, particularly those championing
Snowden? “I understand that perspective,” she said. “The heroism we attach to whistleblowers and holding people in power accountable. But that shouldn’t be our only feedback mechanism. “We tend to say, ‘If he isn’t doing anything wrong, what’s the point of covering him?’ We have a habit of laying out all that’s wrong but never give people a model for what’s working. ... If you’re covering what at least has some evidence of success, it can bridge a lot of divides.” That, in a nutshell, appears to be what Pope Francis is doing. Certainly, that is true for me. My own reaction to the photo of him kissing the face of a disfigured man caught me off guard. I stared at that picture for a long time, wondering whether I – a woman of faith and a columnist who’s staked a career on writing about the unfortunate and disenfranchised – would have the courage to do that. To touch that man, to pull him close. Surely, I was not the only journalist moved – perhaps shocked is the better word – by the sight of institutional power exercised so humbly. What if we trusted that small stirring in ourselves and recognized it as the thing that connects us to the people we cover and the audiences we are trying to reach? As Time Managing Editor Nancy Gibbs wrote this week, “in less than a year, [Pope Francis] has done something remarkable: he has not changed the words, but he’s changed the music.” Bravo to Time for having the guts – the civility, if you will – to celebrate this song of hope, which a hurting world has been longing to hear.
• Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and an essayist for Parade magazine. She is the author of two books, including “...and His Lovely Wife,” which chronicled the successful race of her husband, Sherrod Brown, for the U.S. Senate.
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We’re disappointed – but not surprised – that Office Depot chose Florida over Illinois for its corporate headquarters. The office supply retailer based in Boca Raton, Fla., merged last month with OfficeMax under the Office Depot name. OfficeMax was based in Naperville. The company said it chose Florida because it thinks it can be more profitable there. Given Illinois’ tax climate, no one should be surprised. OfficeMax has more than 2,000 corporate employees in Illinois, of whom 1,600 are based in Naperville. Office Depot plans to relocate some portion of those jobs to Florida, but did not say how many. Before making its decision, the new company sought tax incentives from both states. A tax incentive bill passed the Illinois Senate, but did not get a vote in the House. Regardless, we do For the record not support a piecemeal approach to luring new busiWe do not support a nesses or keeping current piecemeal approach to ones in Illinois. luring new businesses or As we’ve said in the past, keeping current ones in these business-by-business Illinois. negotiated deals are unfair to other businesses, particularly small businesses, which represent a large part of the economy. Continuing to give some big employers major tax breaks while not doing the same for others is not a viable long-term solution for Illinois’ poor business climate. For Illinois to really compete with other states – and countries – for jobs, it must take a hard look at real tax reform. Compared to other U.S. states, Illinois ranks 47th in corporate taxes, 33rd in sales taxes, 43rd in unemployment insurance and 44th in property taxes. Translation? Our taxes are too high. Combine that with an incompetent General Assembly and ineffective governor, and it’s no wonder we’re losing businesses to other states. With a watered-down pension reform legislation behind us, perhaps 2014 will be the year for tax reform. We won’t hold our breath.
8 ANOTHER VIEW
No Labels has right ideas For all the gridlock in Congress we see on TV and elsewhere, many Americans might be surprised to know there is a group of about 90 members of Congress making efforts to find bipartisan solutions to the real problems facing the country. No Labels is a bipartisan group of elected leaders that has been quietly pushing an agenda aimed at breaking down the barriers to gridlock and proposing common sense solutions to America’s fiscal challenges. It has recently designated some members of Congress as part of a “Problem Solving Coalition” if they agree to some simple principles like working together, being accountable and governing for the future. No Labels is a refreshing approach to governing. With 43 Democrats, 37 Republicans and one independent, No Labels has been meeting regularly with members of the other party to hear ideas, build relationships, talk about common goals and find solutions to some of the nation’s toughest problems. Its efforts don’t garner a lot of media publicity like the conflict industry that derives its payola by fostering acrimony from most of the rest of Congress. But No Labels has captured public support for its way of doing business and some specific efforts. It now boasts membership of hundreds of ordinary people across the country. It was behind the “no budget, no pay” legislation that passed both houses of Congress this year. That legislation required that members of Congress do not receive pay unless they complete a budget on time. The No Label problem solvers proposed a ninepoint legislative agenda aimed at getting Congress and the government working. In July, some 70 members of the coalition introduced their package of proposals that would institute the “no budget, no pay” policy, require a budget every two years instead of every year, consolidate duplicative government programs, require smarter bulk purchasing by government, cut federal travel by 50 percent and create bipartisan groups to evaluate the efficiency of federal programs. No Labels co-founders include former Republican Gov. John Huntsman of Utah and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. It was established in 2010, prompted in part by the partisan divide in Congress that came with the passage of the Affordable Care Act. The No Labels website highlights that there were no Republican supporters of that effort as an impetus for their formation. The group also notes on its website that since that time Republicans have attempted risky and dangerous tactics for derailing the law and Democrats have remained unwilling to consider modifications. But it’s clear the coalition has a bigger purpose than making sure the ACA is amended – even Democrats have proposed amendments to the law. The coalition aims to create an atmosphere in Washington that nurtures the sensible bipartisan solutions to many of our problems. The effort is solid and deserves the support of all Americans who want to see Washington work and get beyond the gridlock that threatens our prosperity as a nation. Mankato (Minn.) Free Press
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. – U.S. Bill of Rights, First Amendment