Jobs, employers, and the Illinois tax increase
Immediately after Illinois raised its income and corporate tax, tax increase critics like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker predicted that major Illinois businesses would move out of the state (maybe to Wisconsin!). The Chicago Tribune’s Kathy Bergan reports that will not happen with Peoria’s Caterpillar Inc., which employs 22,000 people in its manufacturing plant. Caterpillar’s CEO threatened earlier that the company would earthmove out of the state, but has promised to stay in Illinois after meeting with Gov. Pat Quinn.
It’s not clear Caterpillar was ever serious about moving — or if they were just hoping for Quinn to pass more business-friendly legislation. The governor may do just that with reforming the state’s workers compensation laws. There are no other Illinois companies of note that have threatened to leave since the tax increase.
Tags: Caterpillar, Illinois, jobs, tax increase