To the Editor:

On the Oct. 3 Opinions page, Scott Reeder of the Illinois Policy Institute perpetuates one of the common myths regarding the state’s fiscal crisis. Writing about the income tax hike, Reeder states, “Virtually all of the new revenues went toward employee pensions, which the governor didn’t even mention (in explaining the increase.)”

In reality, the state has countless bills but never enough money to pay all of them. It has become the mantra of groups such as the Civic Committee and the Civic Federation and newspapers – including the Chicago Tribune and the Shaw Media papers – that the problem is mostly the fault of state pensions.