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Last updated 8:51 am CT February 09, 2010.
Illinois: Bad for Business?
Voters can expect candidates to spend the next few months debating the ways to keep those promises. When they visit Southern Illinois, Transcraft Corporation’s plans to move business from Union County to Kentucky are likely to be top-of-mind.
The company says seventy-five workers will lose their jobs in the first half of 2010.
It's exactly the kind of thing candidates have been pledging to prevent since the campaign got underway.
"With all due respect to the governor of Kentucky, I'm going to chase every job there is to have in this region and I'm going to make sure it's all on this side of the Ohio [River], not that side," Sen. Kirk Dillard, a Republican candidate for governor, said when he kicked off his campaign in July.
Transcraft officials say the decision has nothing to do with the state, but Dillard and his fellow Republican candidates argue that Illinois tax policies drive businesses away.
"We have to roll back those taxes and fees and regulations to foster investment in this state," said State Sen. Bill Brady.
"What we have in this state is a public sector that is cannibalizing the private sector and crowding out private investment," said political commentator Dan Proft.
Proft points to the 2010 State Business Tax Climate Index recently released by the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan educational organization. It shows Illinois ranking behind its neighbors.
Others point to a report by the Oregon Department of Commerce and Business Services, which shows Illinois’ workers’ compensation premium rates rank lower than every neighbor except Kentucky. That means a higher burden is placed on companies that do business in Illinois.
You're not likely to hear Democrats like Gov. Pat Quinn and Dan Hynes call for lower taxes on businesses during the campaign.
You probably will hear them say improving education and infrastructure will attract jobs, and Republicans would tend to agree with that.
Ralph Martire, executive director the bipartisan group Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, says that's one of the keys.
"Illinois fails to make the investment it needs in infrastructure [and] fails to make investments it needs in education. Businesses get that and notice that," he said.
No matter what candidates propose, Martire argues the differences like the ones highlighted in Tax Foundation report aren’t what keeps business away-- it's Illinois government's overall track record.
"Elected officials tend to make willy-nilly, goofy decisions on a day-by-day, seat-of-the-pants basis rather than [having] a thoughtful, long-term strategy for raising adequate revenue in a way that helps promote the economy," Martire said.
With a giant budget deficit, he predicts businesses’ perception of Illinois may only get worse.
By Dana Jay
djay@wsiltv.com
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