Other States Looking to Take Advantage of Recent Illinois Tax Hikes

[hoosier]

Indianapolis is trying to lure businesses away from Illinois in the wake of the tax hikes recently approved there. We'll see if it works. I think it would take more than a tax hike to lure entrenched companies away from Illinois:

http://www.indystar.com/article/2011...t|IndyStar.com

I don't want to turn this into a state vs. state or city vs. city thread but felt this issue warranted its own thread.

Is this an ethical course of action to take?

[airmale007]

Ethical? Perhaps not. Logical? Sure.

Still don't foresee a lot of entrenched corporations uprooting to move to Indianapolis, though. Sorry.

[hoosier]

Originally Posted by airmale007

Still don't foresee a lot of entrenched corporations uprooting to move to Indianapolis, though. Sorry.

I wrote the same in my original post.

[xerxesjc28]

I have not read that article, but from what I have hears/read before one of the main reasons corporations choose certain places to set up business is if there is a good source of employees (educated workforce) located there. This is why you see many of them found not in rural parts of the country (lower taxes) but right smack in the middle of large cities (NY), places with higher taxes.

[GarfieldPark]

Right. Its just more of the same thing that always goes on. This is just a little tool to help bring some additional attention to get businesses to consider potential other options. Businesses move all the time. This may help make a few more companies make a decision for economic reasons. I guess we'll find out more over the next year or so.

[diablo234]

This is nothing new since states have been doing this for years now with states such as Texas and Georgia offering incentives for firms relocating to those states.

However I can see this being good for NW Indiana since they are close enough to Chicago to benefit from it's existing transportation infastructure and international air connections.

[Ol' 606 Chi]

I agree. I don't forsee many companies leaving Illinois. However, I do see some small business either closing up shop, or moving accross the border to Wisconsin. Kenosha and Racine are short commutes to Chicago and with access via the Metra. As well as situated closely to Milwaukee. Which makes this a great alternative to other cities/towns in the Chicagoland area, especially within Cook County.

[palindrome]

I don't foresee a lot of entrenched corporations uprooting to move to Indianapolis.

[MilwaukeeMax]

yeah, our new idiot college dropout governor thinks that slightly lower taxes are going to magically lure businesses from Illinois to Wisconsin too but it's simply foolhardy to think that taxes are the ONLY reason a business would want to set up shop somewhere. also, as this NYTimes article points out, Indiana and Wisconsin are totally missing the point... the bigger picture here is to try to stop the loss of jobs to other countries instead of trying to steal businesses from each other. The Midwest should be working in unison, not fighting between its separate states, for its economic well-being.

[srsmn]

Originally Posted by MilwaukeeMax

Indiana and Wisconsin are totally missing the point... the bigger picture here is to try to stop the loss of jobs to other countries instead of trying to steal businesses from each other. The Midwest should be working in unison, not fighting between its separate states, for its economic well-being.

A very important point, however-- and this is a BIG however-- if a company has no interest in relocating overseas, how is it to Indy's or Wisconsin's benefit for them to stay in Illinois? At the point that they are staying in the country indefinitely, state-to-state competition is actually a pretty good thing.

The loss to Indy or Wisconsin would be in whatever it takes to lure the companies (easily reciprocated). The loss to the company would be in however much it costs to relocate and tansfer or potentially hire new employees (easily reciprocated, if the taxes in Illinois are high enough, which they may be). The loss to Illinois could be a sizeable one, but this is just economics, and if Illinois is unable to be economically sustainable for some of these companies, why fault Indy?

In the end, though, as others point out, this is one factor in a myriad of factors that a company would have to consider if they are interested in relocating-- to avoid the tax hike, or for any other reason. Again, it costs money to pick up roots and plop them down elsewhere, not to mention that moving to a smaller market with relatively lower exposure can hurt the company, too...