With the recent news that unemployment is at its highest point in nearly three decades, 50^th State Representative candidate Keith Wheeler today unveiled his plan to bring much needed jobs back to Illinois and the 50^th State Representative District.

With unemployment increasing at a staggering rate, our representatives in Springfield need to work together in order to encourage large companies, startups and entrepreneurs to choose Illinois as a viable, attractive state to locate their business and to help our existing businesses grow and prosper.

For years now, Illinois businesses have been given too many reasons to pack up and move to other states:

• 11^th most expensive workers’ compensation system in the nation
• 12^th most expensive property tax in the nation
• The disgrace of our two previous governors
• Corruption in Illinois government – “pay to play”
• Tax rates that starve out businesses to feed an ever-growing government
• The two most recent governors proposing massive tax increases

I believe that the people of Illinois are ready to work so they can put food on the table for their families and stay in their own homes. They’re ready to work now and do not want to depend on government to support them.

As a small business owner for nearly 20 years, I have seen first-hand what Illinois has done to drive business, and more importantly jobs, from Illinois. I have talked with many business owners, both large and small, and our frustrations are usually the same. Illinois makes it very difficult for a company to succeed and grow when compared to other states. It is easier to locate in other states that encourage and support business activity (jobs) than it is to deal with the aggravation and high cost of doing business in Illinois. We need to put a stop to this now.

While it is easy to complain about the past efforts of our government, I believe that a true leader offers solutions to the issues at hand. Therefore, I propose a plan that would help to encourage business to come back to Illinois, and specifically the 50^th State Representative District, and put our people back to work. My plan is simple:

1. Make it more affordable to do business and create jobs in Illinois

Overhaul the workers compensation system and reduce liability costs.

a. Workers compensation in Illinois is more than double the costs in neighboring Indiana and 50% more than in Wisconsin. Let’s reform the workers compensation system in Illinois by enacting HB0058 which would make Illinois more competitive with our neighbors.

b. Our reputation in the courts also hurts Illinois’ competitiveness since our state liability rating puts Illinois in the bottom five states nationally. Some measures of tort reform would substantially benefit the business and job climate in Illinois.

2. Put Illinois on a level playing field with other states by cutting taxes, fees and regulations on small businesses since small business creates 8 out of every 10 new jobs in Illinois - stop treating Illinois small businesses like politicians’ piggy banks.

a. Although our personal income tax rate is a respectable flat 3%, Illinois ranks in the top 12 most expensive property tax states and we happen to have the 7^th highest level of extra taxes and fees (outside of income, sales and property taxes) in the nation.

b. Over the last ten years, nearly 750,000 residents left Illinois for greener pastures. It’s easy to see where they went, just look to the states which have no personal income tax. Texas, Florida, Washington, and Wyoming are all states with top-tier economic performance and had better than average increases in individual income growth while seeing their population grow.

c. Over the last decade, the number of fees paid by small businesses in Illinois has skyrocketed. Here’s a simple approach to solving this issue: Put the fee levels back to where they were before the Blagojevich years and leave them there.

3. Instability: Clean up the mess that Illinois state government has become in order to lower the cost to taxpayers.

Top Priority: Balance the budget to diminish fears that businesses will be hit with new taxes to pay off an ever-increasing state debt due to unsustainable spending choices.

Business owners understand that if Illinois is piling up big debt, eventually, someone is going to get to pay for it – usually taxpayers like them. By actually running state government more efficiently and within our means, Illinois can help itself by not scaring companies and their jobs away with the potential for big tax increases to pay for runaway spending. We’ve seen the last two governors push for huge, job-killing tax increases rather than try to get Illinois to live on what we already have.

The General Assembly should directly address the state’s debt honestly and forthrightly. Current estimates (since the numbers are not published regularly for the citizens) show Illinois behind in current bill payments at the level between $4 - 8 billion. This figure doesn’t include one dime for the severely underfunded pensions which may currently be as much as $80 billion. With this level of delinquency – and the fear of much higher future payments – it is clear to see why business owners may cross Illinois off their list.

Spending beyond our means even when the economy was strong gave impetus for the two most recent governors to push for huge, job-killing, tax increases: Rod Blagojevich’s Gross Receipts Tax and Pat Quinn’s 50% income tax increase. When business owners invest in their company with the motivation of getting a reasonable return on their investment, massive tax increases prevent or delay that return.

The goal is to bring businesses back to Illinois and encourage existing Illinois businesses to grow. This leads to more jobs and more people working. More people working means less unemployment and the costs associated with paying unemployment benefits. With more people working, additional revenue will be generated by each worker’s share of income taxes. In addition, with more people working, spending will increase as workers are not worried about job security and have more income at their disposal. This increased spending will generate sales tax revenue that again will help our State out of its financial deficit. We don’t need to raise taxes, take more from our remaining businesses, or punish hard-working residents of this great State. We need to create an environment where business will thrive. When businesses succeed, jobs are created and we all pay a lower share and still have good schools, police and fire, good roads and infrastructure, and other necessary government services which are so important to each of us.