“Don’t tax retiree benefits,” says Doctor J.
Dr. J is a retired IEA member who wrote to correct me when I said that past IEA President Ken Swanson was vague about taxing TRS benefits. Dr. J says that Swanson was never vague on this. He argued for it since the first year he was president. It wasn’t until last year’s RA that he got the IEA Legislative Platform changed to reflect his position.
I asked Dr. J to submit a blog post.
Here it is:
During the battle over changing pension benefits for active teachers last spring, many retired teachers joined the fight by sharing information over the internet, by writing and visiting their legislators and going to schools and talking to the active teachers about the threat of the change to their benefits and the financial implications of those changes. It was ironic that in the middle of this battle, IEA leadership pushed through a change in the IEA Legislative Platform that for the first time supported the concept of taxing retiree benefits. Ironic because while