No matter who wins, you will pay

Are you ready for some colossal tax and fee hikes? They’re coming. One way or another, no matter who wins, they’re coming to Illinois and Chicago.

Our politicians would rather we think these next elections are about which of them is richer or poorer, nicer or nastier, because what they’ve been doing with our money is the worst mess of all.

They’ve been taking money that should have gone to pensions and spent it elsewhere. They’ve taken out the equivalent of pay- day loans to pay for the basics. It’s been going on for years and years. We’ve gotten used to living on prime, aged filet when we really could afford only lean ground chuck. Get ready. After the November state election and the spring city vote, we all might be forced to eat a lot more cheap mac ’ n cheese.

Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn told the Daily Herald in his endorsement interview that he’ll try to make the temporary 5 percent income tax increase permanent, something Republican governor nominee Bruce Rauner now is highlighting in his latest ad. Quinn doesn’t like to talk about it too much, but he’s called for making the tax permanent since March. He probably figures if he wins, he’s got a mandate to increase taxes and raise the minimum wage.

Rauner will be hiking taxes, too. Rauner said he would add sales taxes onto scores of services that haven’t been taxed yet. The budget plans he’s offered do not add up, with the personal income tax rate set to drop to 3.75 percent in January, so don’t be surprised if he tries to take more of our money if he wins, too. He’s said he hopes to drop the income tax rate back down to 3 percent over four years.

And then there’s Chicago. The city’s pension systems are severely underfunded, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel also is running for re- election, so he ruled out any preelection hikes in property, sales or gas taxes. He avoided talking about hiking other taxes, fees or fines on red- light camera tickets, for instance. Remember, he secured a 56 percent tax hike on phone bills just last May. He’s raised water, sewer,

And yet, our politicians keep spending money we don’t have.

parking, city sticker and other fees previously. Meanwhile, the city has a $ 550 million payment due in 2016 to the fire pension fund and a police fund that has more retirees drawing checks than active workers contributing.

Many of our cities and the state have underfunded pensions. The Illinois Supreme Court signaled strongly this summer that reducing pension benefits isn’t something it’s likely to allow, but if any candidates have an alternative, none is willing to talk about it yet. Shifting future workers to a 401 ( k)- style system won’t rid us of our current debt.

And yet, our politicians keep spending money we don’t have. Don’t take my word for it. The nonpartisan Civic Federation fiscal watchdog recently confirmed that the current state budget supermajority Democrats approved increases our debt load.

Lawrence Msall, Civic Federation president, said the state budget borrows to pay for operating costs, underfunds some costs and adds to our debt. The state’s unpaid bills had dropped from a high of $ 8.8 billion to $ 6 billion at the end of last fiscal year, but Msall said it will rise to about $ 6.4 billion at the end of this fiscal year.

The politicians don’t want to talk about how they keep growing our debt and put off facing it, but reality will hit hard, in our wallets.