Friday, April 23, 2010

California Public Pensions Feeling the Pressure

Good that people are talking about it, their solutions are too bright though:
Across California, state and local leaders are moving to confront the cost of public employee retirement packages — an escalating financial burden that threatens to choke off funding for other government services.

Legislation now being debated in Sacramento would curtail pension benefits to future state employees. Elsewhere, city and county governments are looking at a variety of measures, including raising property taxes to cover shortfalls and reducing payments to retirement funds.

On Thursday, pension consultant Girard Miller told California's Little Hoover Commission that state and local governments have $325 billion in unfunded pension liabilities, which he said amounts to $22,000 for every working adult in the Golden State.
So, instead of cutting benefits, the default answer in California is to raise taxes. Yeah, that will go over well in a state that is already heavily taxed.

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