THE PROBLEM
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Bad Public Policy enacted by Illinois State Government batters business.
Let's be honest. Illinois is an 'Anti-Business' state. Our fine state
features numerous business fees, dual corporate taxation, an expensive
Worker's Compensation environment, a heavy “tort tax” to enrich trial
lawyers, and excessive public corruption. All of this contributes to a
hostile economic environment for job creation.
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Illinois Job Growth Lags over Long-Term. Over the past
16 years Illinois created less jobs than the average state. In the
period from 1990-2006, Illinois lagged the nation and our Midwestern
neighbors in not only job growth, but also in job growth within nearly
every segment of our economy: construction, education and health,
financial, government, information, leisure, manufacturing,
professional, trade, and other! In fact, Illinois has shed
manufacturing jobs 30% faster than the nation as a whole. The long term
job creation trend in Illinois versus the nation is a dismal graph (see
page 2 of source). Source: Jobs Coalition
Current
economic policies are NOT improving job growth in Illinois. During the
period between 2003-2007, Illinois ranked 45th of 50 states in job
growth. The average state gained 321,000 new jobs while Illinois
created only 129,000. By being a below average in job creation,
Illinois lost out on attracting business, talent, and economic growth.
That translates to $501 million in lost sales and income tax revenues.
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Unemployment rate soaring: Illinois is currently 15th worst in the nation in unemployment with a rate approaching the 10.0% mark. Of our total population, over 505,300 people are on the unemployment rolls.
- Adding to all of these woes, both Democratic Gubernatorial candidates (Pat Quinn and Dan Hynes) are calling for the destruction of the one small remaining benefit Illinois has to offer - its relatively low income tax rate. If either Quinn or Hynes are successful, they will create an economic death-spiral for Illinois. Businesses and high earners will accelerate the process of leaving the state, leaving fewer and fewer people to shoulder the burden of the Democrats' unsustainable bureaucratic state. As the tax and regulatory burdens accelerate yet again, the number of productive citizen shrinks again.
ADAM ANDRZEJEWSKI’S PLAN: ILLINOIS JOB GROWTH
1. Make Illinois the American Magnet for entrepreneurs and job creation. Look at all of the planks in our platform. If we succeed in
ending public corruption, balancing the Illinois state budget, lowering property taxes, and cutting health care costs, businesses will begin to create jobs again. By providing better education for children in failing public schools, we will have created yet another reason for existing businesses to remain and new businesses to locate here.
Adam Andrzejewski has unique insight into what it takes to create jobs. You see, job creation and job losses are not a function of jobs programs. Jobs are created and lost at the margins.
In 1997, Adam Andrzejewski and his brother started a company from scratch. Over the course of the next 10 years, they built a company that employed hundreds of people. In their 3rd year, they entered a period where it was a struggle. One more tax, one more expensive regulation, one more steep property tax assessment, and they may have lost that business. You can bet that during that time, they weren't thinking about creating new positions. As a successful businessman, Adam not only talked to small business owners
in 50,000 face-to-face meetings. He has experienced first-hand what it takes to
create jobs and grow a business, Adam will bring his years of business
experience and knowledge with him to Springfield.
Illinois is now at a phase where existing businesses are highly taxed and regulated while their sales and profits are dropping. Businesses outside of Illinois (or some enterprising entrepreneurs) are not likely to dive into Illinois to open up a new site. These new and existing businesses aren't looking for help from "Zero-Sum" incentive programs administered by inefficient Springfield bureaucrats. They are looking for Illinois to lower the cost of doing business here.
2. Create jobs by lowering the cost of business. Since 2003, over 300 fees/taxes have been levied on Illinois businesses. These fees push businesses and their jobs out of Illinois, making Illinois comparably less attractive vs. our neighboring states. Furthermore, Illinois' the business environment created by Illinois' special brand of insider-driven government makes it hard for business to predict where the next tax or regulation might hit them.
This was a poor way to lower the cost of business. The never-ending drive to increase state revenues is doomed to fail. Too few Springfield insiders understand that when you tax something, (employment, infrastructure) you receive less of it. Another factor driving business from Illinois is the high cost of locating in Illinois. One example is the the private sector electric rate increase of $2.3 billion. Endorsed by Springfield, it was later determined that this measure cost Illinois more than 20,000 jobs and forced 6,300 people to move to another state! (source: Citizens Utility Board)
Once the budget issues are addressed properly, Adam Andrzejewski will look to reverse all business fees increases passed by the Democrats since 2002. He will also look to replace the existing "zero-sum" incentives that reward some business at the expense of others with a clear and simple tax credit that any an all businesses (new and existing) can utilize.
3. Legal/Tort reform- The ‘tort tax’ costs the average Illinois family $3500 in increased goods and services. Curbing this tax has the potential of giving every family a pay raise. Adam Andrzejewski will end the Illinois reputation as a ‘judicial hell-hole.’ According to a Harris Interactive poll, Cook County is ranked 2nd worst legal environment in the country. There can be no doubt that this environment has contributed to Cook County losing jobs during the roaring 1990’s!
4. End Pay to Play: Illinois has become notorious for "it's who you know, not what you know". In fact, an LSU study states that the perception of cronyism and corruption can harm a state looking to attract new business. Adam Andrzejewski will end this perception through the numerous measures designed to bring honest, effective government to Illinois. This will ensure that employers know that Illinois is going to open for business.
What should a "Tax Credit" plan look like?
Recently, one of our opponents in the Governor's race touted a tax credit idea. It is supposed to be a "10% tax credit (off of what tax?), up to $2,100 for a business that creates a new job (how is that defined?). This is one half of a good idea, but it shows that our opponents don't really understand job creation.
First off, Illinois needs to balance its budget so that citizens and business are not on the hook for never-ending tax increases and debt. Second, incentives to create jobs need to directly address an existing budget problem. This means that any tax credit must directly reduce a strain on the state's budget, and if possible, allow for cuts in state bureaucracy.
Adam's supports job-creating tax credits. However, he envisions a plan that addresses the budget issue directly by connecting any tax credit to a) removing a worker off of the Illinois unemployment rolls, and b) eliminating the need for wasteful, zero-sum bureaucracies like the DCEO or the IETC.