Small businesses give Illinois an F
The 2014 Thumbtack.com Small Business Friendliness Survey asked 13,000 small businesses across the U.S. to grade the friendliness of their state and locality. Illinois businesses gave the Land of Lincoln an F. Ever the golden child, Chicago earned a D+. These grades are unacceptable. Illinois’ small businesses are sounding the alarm for what’s causing Illinois’...
The 2014 Thumbtack.com Small Business Friendliness Survey asked 13,000 small businesses across the U.S. to grade the friendliness of their state and locality. Illinois businesses gave the Land of Lincoln an F. Ever the golden child, Chicago earned a D+.
These grades are unacceptable. Illinois’ small businesses are sounding the alarm for what’s causing Illinois’ job creation, economic growth and out-migration crises. The results point directly to the reasons why Illinois is putting multiples more people on food stamps than on payrolls.
A quick comparison of how small businesses view Illinois and Texas highlights why Illinois is losing more residents to Texas than to any other state.
Texas’ cities, which are experiencing a population boom, are putting Chicago to shame.
Small businesses matter, and Illinois’ small businesses are desperate for relief. Nearly half of all private-sector jobs are with small businesses, and two-thirds of the jobs created in the last 20 years came from small businesses.
With small business owners giving the grades, Illinois’ political leaders are failing the test. The state is in need of bold reforms. And aiming for a C will not get the job done – Illinois would still lose businesses and talent to Texas.
Illinois’ leaders need to go to work on a package of reforms including:
- Eliminating the income tax to modernize the tax code
- Slashing start-up fees and wait times to foster entrepreneurship
- Eliminating licensing requirements to relieve low-income entrepreneurs
- Reforming employer liability laws
- Repealing the death tax to keep family farms and businesses intact