Navistar's Lisle expansion could get state tax breaks

SPRINGFIELD - State lawmakers advanced legislation today that could result in tax breaks to aid Navistar's planned consolidating of research and engineering centers with its international headquarters in Lisle.

Navistar, formerly known as International Harvester, is a leading manufacturer of trucks and truck engines. The Lisle new facility is expected to bring in 800 jobs averaging $80,000 annually by relocating the company's engineering research operation to Lisle from Ft. Wayne, Ind.

"This is a tremendous economic development project for Illinois, my region, and northern Illinois," said state Rep. Michael Connelly, a Lisle Republican, who called it an economic "shot across the bow" at Indiana.

"We can't think of Illinois as a great economic development state until we do things like this," Connelly said.

The Illinois House voted 114-0 in support of Navistar applying for a state business tax credit program that could give the company a $4 million tax credit for the next 10 years. Supporters said the added jobs and investment would create $100 million in state tax growth over that same period.

The program, called the EDGE Tax Credit is intended to help attract, expand and keep businesses in Illinois.

Navistar representatives said the company currently is not eligible for the tax credit program because it has a net operating loss under Illinois income tax calculations. That's blamed in part on International Harvester choosing to avoid bankruptcy and instead honor pension obligations to retirees.

The vote to tweak the program to let Navistar qualify now goes to the Senate for further consideration.