Chicago to Leave Illinois
Chicago to leave to Illinois over tax increases. Yes that is correct, no you are not dreaming. They are studying the possibility of a move. Very simple like others in Illinois their bottom line is being hit by the increase in taxes. It goes back to a March posting that things like this would happen, Gold Found, Mine Illinois. Who would have thought that Chicago would leave Illinois? That is the Chicago Mercantile Exchange or at least the parent company, the CME Group.
Bloomberg Businessweek reported on June 10, 2011 “CME Group, which owns the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade, said this week it is studying a possible relocation. The announcement comes just a couple months after manufacturing giant Caterpillar Inc. in central Illinois said it had been courted by other states. Caterpillar has since said it is staying put.” The Chicago Sun-Times reported that “Terrence Duffy, chairman of CME Group, said Wednesday the higher rate is costing his company $50 million a year. Duffy also criticized the state for maintaining tax loopholes that grant favors to a few companies at the expense of others.”
The Governor’s office has negotiated incentives for 48 companies; these are the few companies that Duffy was criticizing the state about. According to the Sun-Times the most recent incentives were for Motorola Mobility Inc., $113 million, so they would keep 2500 people working in Illinois. With a 66% increase in state personal income tax on the company’s employees, the better question should be why they would do that to their employees.
Recently a delegation from Sacramento, CA went to Texas to try to find out why they were losing about 6 businesses a week to Texas. Chief Executive 2011 survey of CEO’s ranked states considering “a wide range of criteria, from taxation and regulation to workforce quality and living environment, in our annual ranking of the best states for business.” Illinois which ranked only 45 out of 50 states in 2010 worked its way down to position 48, with New York at 49 and California at 50.
Illinois at some point will have to come to grips with their problem. That is, if they could ever realize, they have one. They will push some businesses out of the state. The real problem arises when people state voting, and President Reagan put it best they vote with their feet.
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