Roll back Illinois’ corporate income tax

Middle-class and working families and the businesses that employ them need look no further for a clear, concise plan to allow the private sector to do what it does best — generate economic growth and prosperity. This month, House Republicans unveiled a bold, common-sense proposal to unshackle the Illinois economy by accelerating the rollback of the massive corporate income tax hike enacted by Democrats in January.

The truth is, we can reduce taxes on employers and still increase revenue from the economic growth associated with the new jobs created. The recipe is simple: When employers hire more people to work, the government brings in more money. Higher taxes haven’t improved our economy, and we are losing jobs at a greater pace than the rest of the country.

Our plan takes a two-pronged approach to reducing Illinois’ business taxes:

We propose to speed up the expiration of the temporary corporate income tax increase to take it back to pretax increase levels by 2014. The Democrats’ corporate income tax increase doesn’t set to expire until January 2025.

Secondly, corporate income taxes would be reduced by .25 percent anytime the Illinois unemployment rate increases by .3 percent in a four-month span.

In addition to this proposal to stimulate the economy, we need to take bold steps in slowing the growth of Illinois’ out-of-control Medicaid system, enacting comprehensive workers’ compensation reform, making balancing the Illinois state budget a way of life, and reforming our pension system to stabilize it and make it affordable for taxpayers.

This combination of pro-growth policies that restore balance and consistency to the income tax structure is the right approach to meeting the growing pressures on our budget during this time of economic challenge.

State Rep. Tom Cross

Oswego