Paul Jacobs | Contributed photo
Paul Jacobs | Contributed photo
Republican state House candidate Paul Jacobs wonders how long Illinois can be Illinois if Springfield Democrats continue to gets their way.
“I think we have done just about everything we possibly can to ruin the economy and drive us into a recession,” Jacobs told the SE Illinois News as the state is again in the midst of 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.
And things could soon get even more costly for the Illinois residents if Gov. J.B. Pritzker gets his way with his progressive tax proposal.
“The most that we can hope for is the State of Illinois does not get hoodwinked by the $56 million that Pritzker is going to spend to convince people that his fair tax is the way to go,” added Jacobs, who is now running for the state House in the 115th District. “All that will do is allow state legislators to increase taxes at will because we are taking the Constitutional guarantees in flat tax away from the people and giving them in the form of a progressive tax to the state legislators.”
Small businesses would be hit even harder, 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 still lingering COVID-19 pandemic.
Should the fair tax become law, Jacobs said he expects there to be even more victims.
“What you are going to find is retirement income is going to be double or triple,” he said. “Please don’t convince yourself that you are going to be taxing the rich. People that make $17,500 a year will also after a period of time have increased taxes.”
In addition, Illinois Policy Institute reports enacting a progressive tax would drop Illinois from 36th to 48th in the country for its business tax climate.
“The thing you do not do in a recession is raise taxes,” Jacobs added. “With estimates of as much as 30% of small business going out of business we must encourage businesses to stay in our great state and not leave for the states near us.”
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