Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Caterpillar to Change... states?



Last week Peoria based Caterpillar dropped a bomb on the whole state of Illinois. In a letter, the CEO of Caterpillar, Doug Oberhelman told Governor Quinn that he might consider leaving the state of Illinois because of the unfriendly business taxes/environment. Quinn (yucko by the way, I did NOT vote for you!) was all upset over the prospect of adding Caterpillar to the list of businesses that he drove out of the state. He tried to play it off, saying that he is “confident that Caterpillar will stay in Illinois” and that, contrary to common sense, Illinois is a business friendly environment. Umm- what the hell does he live?

First of all, let me just reiterate- I did not vote for Quinn. I think he is riding the coattails of a scandal, claiming to be a good guy- when he clearly is not. He does not speak to my interests, or what I want, so even though he is a Democrat, he did not get my vote. Take note- I don’t vote a party ticket. Secondly, are you kidding me? Illinois is not that friendly a business environment AND with Quinn raising taxes like he has lost his mind, other states are stealing businesses from the state. Guess what? I say, good for those other states. Don’t get me wrong, I love Illinois. I love living here, clearly… and there is no place that I would rather be. With that said- you cannot expect citizens or businesses to just take what you throw at them, no questions asked, no repercussions. Here are the facts: taxes in Illinois are out of control. The whole state- Cook County in particular. Until last July, Chicago had the highest tax rate of all large American cities… at 10.25% Even now, it is high as all get out- at 9.75%. That makes our gas prices soar, our utility costs sky-rocket, and living costs in general are ridiculous in comparison to other larger cities, in the Midwest or otherwise. Let me be the first to remind everyone, Chicago is not the capital of Illinois and 9.75% is not a statewide rate. Ain’t that some shit? It is that bad in Chicago, so I can imagine what the rest of the state is dealing with. If I ran a multimillion dollar operation, would I look into moving my business elsewhere? Absolutely!! Pat Quinn and the rest of Illinois’ lawmakers need to realize, there is only so much that people CAN put up with. In today’s economic times, there is only so much that the city of Chicago, Cook County and businesses can DO for a state. Being over taxed to pay for things that are NOT necessities is outrageous. I don’t want Caterpillar to leave. Those 23,000 jobs will be next to impossible to replace. I DO, however, want a government that works for the betterment of Illinoisans- private citizens and businesses… and it seems that we aren’t getting that with Pat Quinn.

New Jersey is not the only state wheelin’ and dealing’ for Illinois businesses… neighboring Indiana is too.


What's a state to do?

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