Dupage Policy Journal

Republican state House candidate Laura Hois can’t stop imagining the possibilities.

“Illinois could have a brighter future if it completely reverses course, from being the least business friendly state with potentially the highest ever corporate tax rate to supporting businesses by lowering taxes and easing pointless regulations,” Hois told the DuPage Policy Journal.

Now running against incumbent state Rep. Anne Stava-Murray (D-Naperville) in the 81st District, Hois struggles to understand how lawmakers can justify being in the process of again raising corporate tax rates, this time with the hit coming at the same time that neighboring Indiana is in the process of almost cutting its rates by half.

“If you are a business owner, why would you stay in Illinois if Indiana’s corporate tax will be half that of Illinois'?” she said. “Why stay in Illinois when Illinois’ property values are falling and Indiana’s property values are rising? Why stay in Illinois when Illinois has the highest tax burden in the nation and may soon have the highest corporate tax rate in the nation? The difference between moving your business from Illinois to Indiana could result in more savings for your child’s college tuition.”

And with Gov. J.B. Pritzker now driven to make his progressive tax idea state law, Hois is among the growing faction cautioning anyone willing to listen that things could get worse before they get better if Pritzker gets his way with.

“The current constitutionally protected flat tax is the only thing Illinois has going for it financially,” she said. “Voters would be wise to vote against the progressive tax.”

Small businesses would particularly be hard hit, with tax rates on some operations jumping by as much as 47% at a time when the industry is already reeling from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Higher taxes will cause more people and business owners to leave the state,” Hois added. “By refusing to remove the progressive tax from the ballot, Gov. Pritzker and the political elite in Springfield are telling Illinoisans: ‘We don’t care about you, we just want your money.’”