March 12, 2008
Citizens for Limited Taxation
As economic cycles rise and fall, only public employee benefits always increase.
As the private sector cuts costs and employee benefits to survive, public employee benefits only increase.
Whether property values rise or fall, public employee benefits always climb.
Nationally, public employee salaries and benefits now exceed those of the private sector by 50 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
These overly-generous entitlements have for too long been falsely termed “fixed costs.” They are “fixed” by politicians negotiating with public employee unions. “Fixed” is the right word only as in “the fix is in.”
The only way to continue supporting public employee unions’ ceaseless demands and their steadily escalating salaries and benefits is through higher taxes or with drastically reduced core government services year after year. Every cent that goes to their luxuries comes directly from strapped tax-paying family budgets. Taxpayers are receiving fewer and less basic government services as public employees get fatter at the trough.