Republican state Rep. Amy Grant (Wheaton) argues that small business owners in her 41st District and across the state of Illinois deserve better than what they are currently getting from Springfield.
With the recent conclusion of Small Business Week (May 5-11), Grant said it’s past time for Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his Democratic supermajority to craft legislation in the best interest of the business sector that created almost two-thirds of all jobs hired for across the state in 2017.
“I heard one small business owner recently expressing his concerns about worker's compensation laws here in the state and how cumbersome they are,” Grant told DuPage Policy Journal. “It shouldn’t be that way. For all they mean to Illinois, it should be an easier process.”
State Rep. Amy Grant
Researchers at Illinois Policy Institute (IPI) predict things could get worse before they get better if Pritzker has his way in the form of the progressive tax system he is pushing. Despite the governor insisting the plan will only mean higher taxes for the state’s most affluent residents, IPI predicts that small business owners who make the state go could also soon be taking a hit.
“One of many problems with Pritzker’s tax plan hits at the heart of job creation in Illinois,” the group's website reported. “That’s because according to IRS data from 2016, a tax hike starting at $250,000 would affect about one-fourth of small businesses in Illinois that are taxed as individuals.”
With Illinois already ranking near the bottom in private-sector job growth across the country, the state can ill-afford to see its biggest job creators take another hit that could be devastating for some of them. Grant sees the progressive tax plan as being so ill-advised that she gets the feeling not even all the Democrats in Springfield are behind it.
“It’s not a fair tax the way the governor has been promoting it and it’s ludicrous for him to say that,” she said. “I think if he had the votes for it you would know it because it would already be passed. Everybody knows this will impact taxpayers all across Illinois, including our small business owners.”
According to the Tax Foundation, as recently as five years ago small businesses created the most jobs nationwide, putting more than half of all the country’s employees to work.
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