Miasmatic Review

Illinois Tax Unfairness.

Citizens of Illinois this message is for you. Our esteemed(?) Governor Rod “Blago” Blagojevich has proposed a Gross Receipts Tax, that he likes to refer to as a “fair tax” Sadly enough his idea of a fair tax appears to be anything but fair. Not only is this the largest state tax increase of this decade, it seems to be aimed at driving business out of the state.

This tax is aimed at any company that grosses more then 1 million dollars a year. That’s gross people, not net. That means that if a business sells large ticket items, like say cars, this could easily drive them out of business. Think about it, if a car dealer sells one car a week at just over $19,231.00, they would gross a million dollars in a year. However, if you take out how much it costs to run the business: buy inventory, pay staff, equipment, supplies, etc… they didn’t actually make a million dollars. In some cases they may just be making a profit of about $100,000.00 a year… but they pay taxes on ten times that amount.

After talking with some local small business owners, they state that in their books they gross a million dollars. However, their businesses are barely staying afloat due to the expenses. One of these businesses is a Jewelry store; insurance is expensive. All of these owners are saying the same thing, if this tax goes through it’s going to drive them out of business. Or there is the other option, moving out of the state.

Which is what some big businesses more then likely will do. Why stay in Illinois if you can cut your costs of operation by moving to another state? Here in Rockford we are only 30 minutes from the Wisconsin state line. What’s keeping businesses from just moving over the boarder? Hell, Beloit could get a much-needed boost to its economy and growth.

Many elected officials have publicly opposed this plan.

” Governor Blagojevich has pitched his Gross Receipts Tax as a tax fairness plan but there is nothing fair about this plan," said Syverson. "Consumers will pay the ultimate price - either through higher prices or future taxes because this tax ran all the businesses and revenues out of Illinois.”

This was from an e-mail newsletter the senator’s office sent out. He even has a link to an online e-Petition regarding this issue. If you would like to voice your opposition to this tax, and live in Illinois, please go add your name to this petition.