Millionaire retiree Bill Hill rails against wealth while collecting a taxpayer-backed pension worth millions

By SUZANNE DOWNING

May 27, 2026 – Democratic congressional candidate Bill Hill has built much of his campaign around attacking “corporate greed,” billionaires, and what he calls a “rigged system” that favors wealthy elites over working people.

But Hill, running against Congressman Nick Begich, himself is sitting on an asset that many Alaskans can only dream about: a guaranteed state pension that is worth several million dollars over his lifetime.

According to Hill’s latest congressional financial disclosure filed with the Clerk of the US House of Representatives, Hill receives income from the State of Alaska Teachers’ Retirement System, the defined-benefit pension program for longtime educators and administrators. The disclosure shows current-period pension income in the range of $15,001–$50,000, with preceding-year pension income in the $50,001–$100,000 range.

The filing also lists another defined-benefit pension entry showing tens of thousands of dollars in additional annual retirement income. House ethics disclosures report ranges rather than exact dollar amounts, but the forms strongly indicate Hill is receiving roughly $50,000 to $75,000 annually from Alaska’s retirement system, possibly more depending on cost-of-living adjustments and timing of payments.

Hill spent more than 25 years in Alaska education, serving as a teacher, principal, and superintendent, including with the Bristol Bay Borough School District and Lake and Peninsula School District. He retired around 2023 after being named Alaska Superintendent of the Year. Rural superintendent positions often carry six-figure salaries, particularly in Alaska’s remote districts.

Under Alaska’s legacy Teachers’ Retirement System, available to employees hired before 2006, retirees can receive up to 90% of their “high-three” average salary after long service careers. Alaska residents like Hill also receive a 10% cost-of-living adjustment if they remain in the state.

Financial planners often estimate the present value of a guaranteed government pension by calculating what amount of private savings would be needed to generate the same lifetime income stream. By that measure, a pension paying roughly $60,000 annually with inflation protection can easily represent an asset worth well over $1 million, and potentially several million dollars over a retiree’s lifetime.

That means Hill, while publicly condemning wealthy interests and billionaire influence, is himself benefiting from one of the most generous taxpayer-backed retirement systems in the country.

What makes the contrast especially striking in Alaska is where the money ultimately comes from.

The Alaska retirement systems have historically depended heavily on state revenue generated by the oil industry,  the same resource economy and large corporate taxpayers that Hill frequently criticizes in campaign rhetoric.

Hill has repeatedly framed his campaign as a fight between “working people” and large corporations. In campaign appearances and interviews, he has argued that billionaires and corporations “rig the system,” receive loopholes and tax advantages, and profit while ordinary families struggle with groceries, housing, healthcare, and energy costs.

“The fight is between everyday Alaskans … and the corporations and special interests that have sucked up the opportunity for themselves,” Hill has said in campaign messaging.

In a 2025 interview with KYUK Public Media, Hill said: “I don’t have anything wrong with people making money or a lot of money, but you have a certain set of people in our nation who have built a massive empire based on the infrastructure that we’ve put in place.”

He continued: “They’ve become so wealthy that they’ve turned their wealth against America, in my perspective, and now they’re paying less taxes than you or I.”

Hill has also pledged to close corporate tax loopholes, “tax the 1%,” ban congressional stock trading, and reject corporate PAC money.

At the same time, his own retirement security comes from a defined-benefit structure almost unheard of in the private sector today. Most private-sector workers no longer receive guaranteed pensions at all, relying instead on 401(k)s and market-based retirement savings subject to economic downturns.

Based on disclosure ranges, Hill has likely already received somewhere in the neighborhood of $150,000 to $250,000 in pension payments since retiring around 2023, with decades of additional guaranteed payments likely ahead.

Hill has raised over $783,000 for his campaign, with three-quarters of it coming from outside the state. Top donors include Dirk Ziff, abillionaire investor, media heir, and environmentalist-philanthropist; and Michael Novogratz, hedge fund/crypto investor and prominent Democratic donor.

The political contradiction remains difficult to ignore: One of Alaska’s voices against wealthy power is himself financially secure for life, due to a state-backed retirement system financed largely by the very industrial economy and corporate tax base he routinely attacks. And the millionaire willingly takes money from billionaires.

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