Millennials will bear pension liabilities

Hawaii’s millennials are getting the short end of the stick by coming into a system that is heavily weighted toward their parents and grandparents.

How is that?

It’s because the state’s unfunded liabilities for public pensions and health care benefits now top $25 billion, and millennials will bear the burden if the problem isn’t fixed soon.

Specifically, the state’s unfunded liabilities are $12.9 billion for its Employees’ Retirement System and $12.1 billion for its Employer-Union Trust Fund. These liabilities represent promises that were made to state and county public employees, which the state might be unable to honor.

Attempts to fix this problem through taxation and regulation will only discourage our children and grandchildren who want to stay and raise their families in the islands.

Increased taxation to pay down the unfunded liabilities will eat into the wages of millennials and Generation-Xers, who are saving for their own retirements, while older Hawaii residents generally will escape the looming tax burden, since public pensions and Social Security payments are exempt from Hawaii taxation.

At the same time, benefits offered to new government employees are being reduced. One change, made in 2012, increased the amount of time employees have to be on the job before they can qualify for benefits, from five years to 10. Since millennials have been job-hopping more than their parents ever did, this makes working for the state or counties unattractive for them, since they will be less likely to see any retirement or health care benefits from government employment.

They also will be paying more taxes than their parents ever did. Taxes have been increasing throughout the islands, largely to pay for the state’s unfunded pension and health care liabilities.

Worse, as government budgets are diverted toward the debt, this will crowd out other public services, meaning local families will be paying more in taxes but getting less for their money.

We already know that Hawaii has the worst bang for the taxpayer buck. This was confirmed recently by Wallet Hub, which measures taxpayer return on investment across the 50 states. Wallet Hub also recently listed Hawaii as the worst state for millennials, in terms of cost of living.

Meanwhile, record numbers of locals are leaving the state, according the U.S. Census Bureau, with “the brain drain” mostly starting at around ages 25-35 — just the when buying a home or starting a family usually is a priority. Generally they are fleeing to states that allow them to keep more of their earnings. This is called voting with your feet.

The state’s unfunded liabilities are a problem for all of us in Hawaii, but they are a problem especially for millennials and Generation-Xers.

If Hawaii wants to bring its young people back home, or have them not leave in the first place, we need policymakers who will better manage our public pension and health care programs, as well as foster more economic freedom, through less taxation, fewer regulations and greater opportunities.

It’s not rocket science. Let’s start while we still have time.

Keli‘i Akina is president of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.