SPRINGFIELD – A two-year-old temporary Illinois income tax increase should become permanent to pay an increasing state portion of employee pension costs through 2019, a top House Democrat said Wednesday.

Deputy Majority Leader Lou Lang’s proposal to shrink a $96 billion deficit in five state retirement systems also would increase the retirement age to 67 and increase employee contributions by 3 percentage points.

The Skokie Democrat called his entry into the yearslong struggle to find a pension solution an idea that would meet with a judge’s constitutional approval, compared to others that tinker with post-retirement cost-of-living increases.