Illinois Among Worst States for Business
Illinois is ranked the 6th-worst place to do business in the country by Chief Executive magazine.
CEOs are important people. Their decisions influence where new plants are built, where operations are expanded, and where new jobs are created. How do they view Illinois as a place to do business? As reported byChicagoBreakingBusiness.com:
For the second year in a row, Illinois nabbed spot No. 46 on Chief Executive magazine’s annual ranking of the best and worst states. The results, derived from a survey of 641 CEOs across the country, looked at issues like proximity to markets and resources, regulation, tax policies, workforce quality, educational resources, quality of living and infrastructure.
Where did Illinois fall short? CEO’s gave the state low marks for its overall business taxes, sales taxes and unemployment insurance tax.Texas walked away with the No. 1 ranking, for the fifth consecutive year.
Who did Illinois edge out? The five worst states, in descending order, were Massachusetts, New Jersey, Michigan, New York and, in last place, California.
Adding some background:
- Illinois’s state business tax climate ranks 30th
- Illinois’s combined state and local sales tax rate ranks 6th highest at 8.4 percent
Illinois’s low ranking is bad enough, but it’s worth noting that this wasn’t always the case. We have the biggest 5-year loss, going from 17th to 46th, a 29-spot swing.
Sounds like we need an Illinois Turnaround.