ILLINOIS DECLARES WAR ON RETIREES: Politicians Plot to Raid Your Life Savings to Fix Their Fiscal Disaster

A political class addicted to spending is now preparing to balance its books on the backs of seniors living on fixed incomes.

By Staff Writer
December 5, 2025

CHICAGO — You played by the rules. You worked 40 or 50 years. You paid taxes on every paycheck, through every recession, every budget crisis, every promise that “this time” would be different.

And now, just when you should be enjoying the peace you earned, Illinois lawmakers are moving to tax your retirement income for the first time in state history.
Not because you did anything wrong.
But because they spent your tax dollars faster than they came in—again.

This isn’t a policy debate.
This is a direct attack on retirees.
A political heist executed under cover of budget panic.

A Secret Move to Dismantle the Flat Tax

In the backrooms of the Illinois Capitol—far from the voters who crushed this idea in 2020—legislators are quietly resurrecting a plan to blow up the state’s flat-tax protection.

The goal is simple:
Give Springfield the power to raise taxes on different groups whenever they run out of money.

And they’ve already chosen who gets hit first.

Retirees.

“They promised us our pensions and Social Security would never be taxed. Now they’re coming for every dollar we have left.”
— Mary K., 78, retired teacher from Peoria

Under the newly revived proposal, once the flat-tax guardrail is gone, lawmakers could impose new taxes on:

• Pension income

• 401(k) withdrawals

• IRA withdrawals

• Social Security benefits

Illinois would instantly become the only state in the Midwest to tax the retirement income seniors spent a lifetime saving.

How Springfield Blew the Budget—And Why Retirees Are the New Target

While Illinois families slogged through the highest property taxes in America, state politicians went on a five-year spending spree.

Since 2020:

• Spending has surged 35%

• Over $15 billion in new permanent obligations created

• Most funded with temporary federal COVID money that disappeared long ago

Now the state faces $11 billion in cumulative deficits by 2029, according to its own fiscal analysts.

Instead of trimming even a fraction of the bureaucratic bloat, Democratic leaders want to rewrite the constitution so they can tax their way out of the mess.

The Same Politicians Who Created the Crisis Now Want More of Your Money

The people pushing this amendment are the same ones who:

• Cashed in automatic pay raises

• Stuffed agencies with six-figure administrators

• Dished out billions in corporate subsidies

• Hid spending in unauditable “member initiatives”

And now they look straight at an 80-year-old widow in Rockford and claim she hasn’t paid her “fair share.”

It’s not “fairness.”
It’s fiscal cannibalism.

A State Already Losing Residents Now Aims at Its Seniors

Illinois already ranks:

• 45th in economic growth

• Dead last in Midwest population growth

• #1 in out-migration — one resident flees every nine minutes

And now, in the middle of this shrinking-taxbase crisis, Springfield’s solution is to make it even more expensive to retire here.

“We rejected this in 2020 by a million votes. They’re dragging it back anyway because they’re desperate.”
— State Sen. Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville), December 2025 floor speech

2026: The Vote That Will Decide Everything

As early as spring 2026, lawmakers could vote on the amendment. With three-fifths support, it goes straight to voters on the November ballot.

Expect an avalanche of ads claiming “only the rich” will pay.

Illinois voters have heard that lie before.

Once the constitution is changed, Springfield will have unlimited power to raise targeted taxes on whoever they choose—and retirees will be first in line.

Retirees Didn’t Break Illinois. Politicians Did.

Illinois seniors honored their commitments.
They worked.
They saved.
They sacrificed.

They didn’t create multibillion-dollar deficits.
They didn’t mismanage pension funds.
They didn’t sign bloated budgets year after year.

They should not be forced to pay for the political class’s failures with the final chapter of their lives.

Official Sources Cited:

• Illinois General Assembly Fiscal Forecast, November 2025

• Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA), FY2025–FY2029 projections

• Illinois Department of Revenue, Tax Expenditure Report 2025

• U.S. Census Bureau population estimates, 2020–2025

• Tax Foundation, 2025 State Business Tax Climate Index

• Civic Federation, Analysis of Governor’s FY2026 Budget