“Big government benefits for me, but not for thee.”

Rick Perry has done something his opponents have been hoping he’d do for years: retire. But it’s not what the governor’s detractors had in mind.

Perry officially retired in January so he could start collecting his lucrative pension benefits early, but he still gets to collect his salary — and has in turn dramatically boosted his take-home pay.

Perry makes a $150,000 annual gross salary as Texas governor. Now, thanks to his early retirement, Perry, 61, gets a monthly retirement annuity of $7,698 before taxes, or $6,588 net. That raises his gross annual salary to more than $240,000.

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In his 2010 book Fed Up!, and out on the campaign trail, entitlement programs and government-mandated health care are among Perry’s favorite targets.

‘I do advocate totally rethinking the safety net, personal security programs completely,’ Perry said in a November 2010 interview. ‘Why is the government collecting your tax money for retirement and health care programs? That’s not a stated constitutional role.’

texastribune.org