ECONOMIC JUSTICE COMES TO ILLINOIS PART 2

During the past year I have written many times of my frustration about how Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has used various economic development programs to throw hundreds of millions of dollars at large corporations that threaten to move away.  The amounts of money he was giving seemed to have no correlation with what the companies were promising to do in return.  Because of this, the Governor is not going to like the new legislation proposed by State Rep. Jack Franks ( D-Marengo) calling for  an oversight committee to give approval before Quinn can give away the money.

First some background:

On May 9th I wrote a blog asking if any economists in Illinois knew how to do math because the financial incentives being awarded were outrageous. I wrote,“Sometimes I think I am the only person in the State of Illinois who knows how to add, subtract and divide.  The accountants that work for The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) and the group that administers the new Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) tax credit program that the Governor signed into law recently must be using an abacus because they obviously have no clue.  I must imagine that they think they are playing with Monopoly money and not the real money of the taxpayers in Illinois when it comes to the latest deal for Continental Tires the Americas (CTA).”

On June 14^th I wrote about the money being given to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and laid out their timeline of greed. 

On June 24^th, I wrote about the deal that Motorola Mobility had gotten

and quoted Rep. Franks when he called the deal “outrageous” and said that all future economic and financial deals needed to be made public before they are signed off by the Governor. “If citizens knew that (Motorola Mobility) could fire 790 people and still get the tax credits, I don't think anyone would stand for that." he said at the time.

Current Plans:

State Rep. Jack Franks in Springfield

Franks doesn’t want the people of Illinois to have to accept the vast amounts of blackmail money the Governor has been paying out with little to no oversight, transparency or opportunity for public comment.  His answer?  Last week Franks filed legislation to create the Economic Incentive Committee within the Illinois Department of Revenue (DOR) to approve agreements entered into under the Economic Development for a Growing Economy Tax Credit (EDGE.)

“Creating and retaining jobs is vital to Illinois’ long-term economic success, but we must question whether offering selective tax breaks, business-by-business, are ultimately worthwhile investments for the taxpayers,” Franks said.

The five member committee will be charged with approving or denying an agreement within 60 days of it being submitted and will post the terms of each agreement online. The committee’s members must be business owners or have expertise in economic development. House Bill 3934 would give the committee final approval authority before EDGE incentives are committed.

“We have allowed a business tax scheme that is politically corrupting and a short-sighted economic development strategy,” continued Franks. “It is time to move these secretive negotiations from the Governor’s office into the open – for the benefit of taxpayers and the business community alike.”

EIC now can boss EDGE around, so finally the citizens of Illinois will get the edge in this bet.