CBS-2 has a new story up about an Illinois company with “hundreds” of employees that is threatening to move to Wisconsin if the governor’s gross receipts tax becomes law. The company is currently headquartered in Huntley, but is building a new HQ in Crystal Lake.

Click on the pic for the story…

Also, the AP just moved a piece entitled: Gov.: Budget Puts Me ‘On The Side Of The Lord’

*** UPDATE *** Krol was at the event…

Making a rare public appearance and actually taking about a half-dozen questions from reporters (an even rarer feat), Blagojevich said nothing else is on the table this spring until he gets his business tax hike for health care and education passed. […]

The governor was asked if casinos are on the table this spring. Blagojevich said his answer to that question also applies to questions mass transit, questions about the road bill, capital bill.

“As far as I’m concerned, the big priorities are passing our tax fairness plan so we can give everyone access to affordable health care and fairly and properly fund our schools and give our kids a chance to learn what they ought to learn in school. That’s the priority. And unless and until we do that, as far as I’m concerned, nothing else is on the table.

“These two things, health care for everyone and education funding properly will give our kids a chance to go to good schools through the vehicle of tax fairness. Those things have to happen before I’ll entertain any other discussion on any other issues.” Later, Blagojevich said he’s not interested in “half a loaf” on both education and health care.

       

54 Comments - heet101 - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 1:39 pm: I wonder what ‘the Lord’ would have to say to the Governor when 100 people (some presumably with families)lose their jobs or are forced to uproot their lives and children and move to a new state. - Just Wonderin' - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 2:06 pm: Here’s an interesting opinion in the local paper. What caught my eye was ways being thought up to skirt the GRT. “The governor’s gross receipts tax (GRT) will cause the cost of living to increase by 10 percent to every Illinois family, just as the $3 a gallon gas prices last year, and the whopper from Ameren this year. The Farm Bureau says the .5 percent GRT will result in price increases averaging 7 percent to consumers because the GRT compounds when collected from the producer and every business in between to the retailer. Add the 3 percent payroll tax increase proposed to pay for Illinois Covered to the real price impact of 7 percent, and every family in Illinois will see their cost of living go up. Finke is right; don’t believe the governor’s tax fairness claim and that this is to protect the little guy. Low- and middle-income families will be impacted the most, through job losses and higher prices. A businessman in Springfield with 200 employees shared with me that his company was considering building a corporate headquarters in Springfield that would add 350 jobs to our town by consolidating with their Omaha, Neb., operation. At their board meeting this past Friday not only did they put those plans on hold to see if the GRT and payroll tax increases would be passed, they are drawing up contingency plans to move their 200 employee Springfield operation out of state if the taxes pass. Another local retailer said if the tax increases pass they will divide their current corporation into five corporations to avoid the GRT, and lay off employees to avoid the payroll tax increase. Homebuilders have said the same. The GRT will kick in after only four or five new home sales. They’ll just build under a different corporate name. Only in Pollyannaville can you extract $6 billion from the economy without disastrous results, regardless of how the governor of Pollyannaville packages the message. The law of economics dictate that people will pay these taxes through lost jobs and higher prices. The law of economics is not the “maybe, might happen” rule of economics. It’s the law. It will happen. No way around it.” - VanillaMan - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 2:58 pm: Blagojevich is convinced if he creates a big enough sob story with religious undertones, economic reality will upend and a new world order will appear that allows his destructive plans to succeed. If there was ever a case where we can see an how being an astute politician doesn’t mean being a good executive or governor, Blagojevich is a living breathing example. What we have seen over the past 100 years is how socialism pretends to do the Lord’s work by taking from the haves and giving to the wanna haves. We have seen how this thinking replaces the proven ability of churches and non profits to do charity work efficiently. We have seen how poorly governments handle these tasks. We have seen how corruption warps socialist government programs into budget bullies taking from all. Blagojevich needs the Lord, but the Lord doesn’t need Blagojevich. “Ring! Ring! Rod, it is God, and boy is he ticked!” - cityofstrangers - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 3:07 pm: TicketsNow claims they have 200 employees in Huntley? I live there and I very much doubt it. The office complex they’re located in doesn’t have room for a 200-person office. If they actually have that many employees, I wonder why they didn’t hire anyone in Huntley? My wife has been looking for work here for more than a year and never saw them advertise. What do I care if they move out of state if none of their employees live in the area? TicketsNow could be operating in Mumbai for as much good as they’re doing in our community. That being said, Blago should just bite the bullet and raise the income tax by a half percent. It’s been done before and somehow we all survived. - Sango Dem - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 3:09 pm: These are the kind of scare tactics and tales of doom that we should expect from the corporations who are used to getting a free ride at the expense of the middle class. If the company is already building a new HQ then they aren’t going to abandon the project. They’re bluffing. If nothing else, the Gov is right about how unfair the tax code is in Illinois. The Govs Lordy comment reminds me of how self righteous George Ryan got about the death penalty moratorium as the investigations against him advanced. - Niles Township - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 3:47 pm: Sango Dem must have never worked for the private sector before. Companies will certainly abandon plans, including corporate buildings, because of changes in circumstance. It happens all the time. Unlike, governments, corporations make decisions in weeks and months, not years. I am a Dem, and I think that Blago has lost his mind on this one. At a time when we need to be making Illinois more competitive and attractive to the companies that are here and that could move here, he would be making us one of the least attractive states in the country. Blago’s tax plan would be a HUGE mistake on so many levels. Trade my outragous property tax increases for income tax increases to fund statewide infrastructure improvements and education. That I could support. - leigh - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 3:48 pm: These businesses are the middle class. Do you seriously believe that only rich peoples jobs and businesses will be affected. There is no such thing as a free lunch and there is no such thing as 6 billion in free revenue. The poor will be hurt the most. - YNM - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 3:58 pm: heet101 … I don’t know what “The Lord” would say about 100 families *choosing* to leave if their company leaves the state (last I checked, an employer could not force you to keep employment with their company); what do you think “The Lord has to say” when thousands of Illinois school children are in unfavorable facilities with poor (or lacking) resources every day because of the funding inequities? - Jeff Trigg - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 4:17 pm: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors health insurance. Thou shalt not steal. YNM, Wouldn’t God want kids in religious schools instead of secular, populist government schools? Careful what you attribute to the will of God. - Scoot - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 4:20 pm: Well, it’s good to see the older, wiser Governor not acting like a lil kid…and putting his own interests in front of whats REALLY important for Illinois. Where the heck are these indictments!? - YNM - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 4:28 pm: Actually JT, I think he’d probably want them all home-schooled. - RBD - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 4:34 pm: (Not taking sides in this debate - but) If I were the Governor, I’d go to Huntley tomorrow. Unfortunately I don’t think he has the courage of his convictions. - Roadkill - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 4:37 pm: If he’s serious about sticking to this one issue… it’s gonna be a long hot summer in Springpatch. It’s gonna be even longer if they drag things into July, August or later with no budget as Blago has threatened and state employees get furloughed with since there will be no money to meet the payroll. - leigh - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 4:51 pm: Here is a fun little game, lets try to guess right now when this session will end. I am thinking mid to late August. - Concerned Voter - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 4:53 pm: If anyone caught the guv with Don Wade & Roma this mornin, what did you think? I loved the “small” business guy who got one of the guvs mailings and said his business was close to being a million dollar one, but after reading the proposals, he might not want to be one and have to deal with the guvs plan. Also the doctor was great when he said what if he didn’t want to pay the new taxes, he has to wait for the state’s medical insurance payments for services he provides, many months later. And the guv just kept reguritating the same talking points. I hope he gets that universal healthcare online soon, looks like lots of “good, hard working” (as Blago likes to say) Illinoisans will need it when their jobs get moved to other states. - Bill - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 5:14 pm: The coporate PR camapign, funded by their multi-million dollar machine, and spearheaded by Whitley, Baise,Gidwitz and their cast of losers is in full swing. The sky is falling, the sky is falling… Don’t fall for the threats and the hype. Illinois has a chance to be in the vanguard as we move the progressive agenda demanded by the voters forward. The governor’s budget plan will finally make big business pay their fair share for the state services that they use. The free lunch for big business in Illinois is over. - Psssst! - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 5:16 pm: Many companies will follow…… Someone should furlough Blagojevich! - Bubs - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 5:21 pm: I fully agree that this “time to go” stuff is no bluff. I have small business executive friends that are non-political and truly worried. One explained in detail the added cost to his production created by this GRT tax, even tat the small percentage, as it applies to ALL of his local component buys in Illinois, THEN his final products. It shocked me how the effective tax on the final manufcatured product can be far, far higher than the stated tax percentage. They will have to pass the tax on, and become less price competitive in an internet world. These people are not “corporate fat cats” by any measure. Just frightened small businessmen. - RMW Stanford - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 5:28 pm: Bill, You do realize that for many business their is nothing that can force them to stay in Illinois if it becomes a more costly and less competitive place to do business? Why does the Governor constantly choice not to mention that most of this tax will passed on to the consumer and that the effects will be similar to the sales tax, but with more a pyramiding effect. The people that oppose this tax, oppose it because it bad for the state economy. - Bill - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 5:41 pm: Competition will prevent a lot of the pass through that is part of the scare camapign. Illinois is a relativly low tax state. Not many businesses will move because the cost of doing business is less than most states. Yes, the consumers and hard working Illinoisians will bear some of the burden. For the first time so will big business. - Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 5:46 pm: Bill’s post, edited for accuracy: The tax-eaters’ PR camapign (sic), funded by their multi-million dollar machine, and spearheaded by Blago, Emil Jones,and their cast of losers is in full swing. The sky is falling, the sky is falling… Don’t fall for the threats and the hype. Illinois has a chance to be in the vanguard as we move the economic discipline demanded by the voters forward. The governor’s budget plan will finally balance. The free lunch in Illinois is over. See, Bill, isn’t that better? And doesn’t it sound like the fella who came down to Springfield, popped out of his SUV, and told the hard-working people here, “I will not raise your taxes.” - No, Bill's right-- - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 6:00 pm: –it’s a multimillion corporate PR campaign. Being run by this pigheaded governor. It is amazing how he can finally get on the right side of the issue and manage to alienate nearly anyone who might agree with him. This man and his staff are at once arrogant and incompetent. Now here they’re finally trying to do some good - four years late, but hey - and they’re fouling it up by being idiots. Then again, what did we expect. - Truthful James - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 6:06 pm: There is an assumption that all businesses are making tons of money and can afford to pay the pyramid effect of the GRT — and not pass it on to the consumer. Dirty rotten capitalists that they are, they need to suffer. Never a question about cutting spending, looking for solutions outside the box and not in the creaky systems to which the politicians are devoted. Everybody is entitled to speak, but great goodness, the unsuported assumptions coming out of the mouths of the contributors is beyond me. Let’s say that he balances his porky budget on the back of business. How is he going to attract entrepreneurs to come and stay? How is he going to entice high paying manufacturing jobs? - Just the facts - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 6:12 pm: It is unfortunate that the Governor doesn’t have the “testicular virility” to put forth the actual legislative language that would implement the GRT. One would hope, although maybe it is an unrealistic hope, that the Governor’s revenue department would have actually drafted a gross receipts tax prior to the Governor’s announcement. If they have, they should make it public. If they haven’t, then this proposal is like the Governor’s “rock the system” ethics proposal of a couple of years ago that was announced with a great deal of hoopla, but to my knowledge has never actually been proposed. Without an actual proposal to review, and only the “talking points” about the grt announced by the Governor and his minions, we can only speculate about the details of the “plan.” As a result, the discussion of the proposal has degenerated, both here and in the press, to an exchange of slogans by the “business community” and the Governor and his minions. It is not possible to undertake a reasoned analysis of a tax, unless you know the details of the tax. Those who are opposed to the concept of a gross receipts tax attempt to explain their opposition to the concept and lapse into hyperbole and “sky is falling” pronouncements. Bill and the other supporters of the Governor respond with their own slogans in which they go on about “tax fairness,” Illinois in the “vanguard,” Illinois as “progressive,” no more “free lunch” for “big business.” Unfortunately, all of this on both sides is devoid of substance. Moreover, if and when the actual grt is put in front of legislators for a vote, the same uninformed blather from both sides will be parroted by our elected representatives when they determine how to vote. If there was some actual interest in coming up with an equitable tax system, rather than using tax proposals as the basis of inciting class warefare to the end of drumming up support for a new revenue stream to fund new social programs, then the Governor and the General Assembly should put together a group of experts to come up with some type of reasoned analysis of the current system and come up with proposals to re-write the tax code or replace the current system if the determination is made that the current system is incapable of being fixed. However, that is about as unlikely to happen as a well-reasoned discussion of the current utility rate mess. - Gregor - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 6:17 pm: I want to know how Walmart will make out under this plan. That will tell me a much about what’s actually going on. - demgrrl - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 6:18 pm: this guy’s biz doesn’t make a profit? gimme a break. how did he afford that expensive suit in that glossy photo? I have a feeling that his salary and bonuses ate up all that profit. - 4% - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 6:37 pm: It is obvious that Bill has never run a private business (or probably been employed by one in any type of management role). Obviously, he is a political hack on the state dime. - Bill - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 6:41 pm: Hey AA, Long time, no blog. Thanks for pointing out my typo. Ill be more careful in the future. Get ready for even more courageous leadership from our esteemed governor. If you are fortunate enough to have health insurance and send your children to private schools then I suppose you don’t care about Rod’s plan. But for the less affluent it will be a real helping hand. It is about time that hard working Illinoisians reap some of the benefit of living in an affluent, business friendly state. By the way, Rod, Emil, four new Senators and a new Rep. all WON the last election. That hadrly makes them losers. Gidwitz and Baise are chronic losers. Whitley would be too if he ever got up the nerve to run for anything. - Bill - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 6:42 pm: Whoops, “hardly” - Bubs - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 6:44 pm: Hey Bill, if this tax passes you had better be right in your breezy confidence and broad, self-serving conclusions. The last time I heard a tone like yours was Rumsfeld talking about subduing Iraq, and all we know how that one turned out. - Speaking of Iraq, - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 6:46 pm: has Rod renounced his vote for the war yet? - Pet peeve - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 6:51 pm: When will this admin learn that “health care” is a phrase containing two separate words? - Truthful James - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 6:51 pm: Heck, Bill With parents vested and Competitive Choice, every youndster can go to a charter or a vetted private school. Probably cost less than the per pupil spending in the Public schools, too. That is what scares BigEd. - Concerned Voter - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 7:11 pm: On the radio this morning, at one point, the guv painted “big” business as the bad guy. Don Wade asked him about the issue that many project that his GRT will cause businesses to just pass this cost on to the customer, not much different than a sales tax increase, making you pay more for an item regardless. Blago then said that businesses would have to do decide what to do, whether they would pass that cost on to the consumer or not, hmmm which option do you think they will take? And that consumers would then have the choice to purchase that item from that business or not. So, it’s big bad businesses fault that they are screwing the “hard working” folks of Illinois, not the Hairdo and his bassackwards budget plan. - Bill - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 7:17 pm: Truthful, They can go to a charter now if they really want to. Charter schools are public schools. They’re free! The problem is that despite their selective enrollment they do no better , and in many cases worse, than their regular neighborhood school. This is probably do to the fact that they are expemt from state regulations and many times use unqualified, non-certified teachers. I’ll stick with our excellent neighborhood public school where all students in the neighborhood are welcome to attend and be taught by qualified, certified, dedicated, union teachers who work hard to prepare their students for college and life. If we could just get the state to adequately fund it, it would be far superior to most privates that have the same problems with certification and accountability. I guess that makes me an apologist for “big ed”. Bruno would be proud of you. - Hyper - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 7:19 pm: We small business owners would like to ask Chairman Blogo how we will get the revenue to fund this newest level of state socialism. In Crook County and the City of Daley we have had consistent increases in taxes such as “Crook County property tax that went up 40%”, and many other miscellaneous taxes that are not as transparent. How are we supposed to pass them on to our customers? The Chinese products that flood our store shelves don’t have tariffs attached for the health care and pension costs of government workers or to compensate the small factories workers and owners that they have put out of business? I was taking a cab ride last week and the driver came from the old Soviet Union, he said that he left a failed state and system and he wondered why we are trying to now emulate it. All we can hope for in a indictment of Chairman Blogo before this insanity is passed. Hey remember Ceausescu of Romania, “we should be so lucky“. - Bill - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 7:24 pm: Hyper, What mature comments! I can see why your business is “small”, which, by the way,would exempt it from GRT. If you don’t like Crook County and Daley City, why not move. There are a lot of vacancies in Hammond. - Bill of Goods - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 7:26 pm: Thank the Almighty for our Governor. He is indeed the fulfillment of the second coming, seeking to create the Kingdom here on earth. How fortunate we are that He is using Illinois state government to bring in His kingdom! Just think, He could be using another state, and left us out in the cold, but He chose Illinois! We can do it here in Illinois, and advance the progressive agenda that the people demand! And we must do it now, this session, in case future elections go the other way! We should be grateful and willing, indeed more than willing, to give another tithe of our income and possessions to the state. And if we’re not willing to voluntarily give another tithe, we should force everyone to do it anyhow, under penalty of going to jail. Yes, even if police have to use deadly force to make people tithe again. God will be so pleased with us and them. Resistors will be glad later that we forced them to do it against their will now. One day they will realize that we are right and be so grateful. I for one can’t wait for Rod to start ruling with a rod of iron. That is what our religion, and America, is all about. Using the government to accomplish a religious goal. I am so thankful for all those Supreme Court rulings that kept prayer and the Bible out of schools, but at the same time let our governor bring God in so justify increased budgets and government worker salaries. After all, you cannot serve God and mammon. I am so proud of our governor showing us how to love according to this principle. And I do hope Rod stays away from outlawing that adultery and lust stuff, and foul language, etc. Separation of church and state, you know. - Bill - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 7:38 pm: “Bill of Goods”, Well Said! Amen! - 'Lainer - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 8:46 pm: “Just Wonderin’,” what business in the Springfield area are you talking about? It kind of sounds like H.D. Smith, but they just announced that they are going ahead with their Springfield expansion which will add up to 600 jobs. I agree that the GRT is a terrible idea and will drive many other jobs away, but apparently the prospect of such a measure hasn’t deterred this company. - RMW Stanford - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 8:58 pm: Bill, You fail understand how the market works, if you increase all companies cost of doing business, then the only way that they can keep price down is to cut into their profit margin, something that companies are not going to do. Competition doesn’t prevent companies from passing on in increase in the price of doing business to the consumers it prevents them from charging consumer unfair price. This would be no different than if the cost of all of their raw materials increased. Your not talking about situation were one company is charging unfair high price and new companies will come into the market to capture some of the profit, since your raising everyones costs. Why would a company not pass on most of the cost of the tax when the only way they can do it is cutting into their profit margin? If they compete with business in other state this will raise their cost relative to other states and reduce their profit margin, so they will have little to relocate or see their profits fall. Business in Illinois already pay more than half of all the tax revenues paid to state and local government. - Disgusted - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 9:38 pm: Bill - once again, you are being rude. Why DO you praise the governor so much? What has he done personally for your lately that has improved your life directly? Does he pay your taxes, your mortgage, your salary out of his own pocket? It must be his generosity to you in some form because I can’t see anyone blindly following any politician in this day and age. - Reformed - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 9:43 pm: Why is it perfectly OK for a Democrat to stand in a Chicago black christian church and invoke the Lord, but when a Republican stands in a white suburban christian church and invokes the Lord he is holier than thou, wacko, right wing zealot? - Old Elephant - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 9:49 pm: Just curious, if there is nothing more important than this, why hasn’t the Governor gotten around to giving the legislature a bill? So far, all anyone has seen are press releases. As usual, the razzle-dazzle machine isn’t serious about anything except the hairdo. - Anon. - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 10:23 pm: It was written today that the GRT will result in price increases averaging 7 percent to consumers. Businesses are not the ones to pay for health care for everyone and school funding, us taxpayers are. I won’t be able to afford my own kids. I don’t want to pay for other’s children - I just want to take care of my own. As for the Lord stuff the Goobernor is throwing at everyone - God don’t like ugly. - Hyper - Tuesday, Mar 20, 07 @ 10:52 pm: Gee Bill did you know that when they passed the 16th amendment or better known as the Federal income Tax it was only to Tax the rich not middle class or poor. So all the gullible Bill’s gave them the votes. How many times does government have to tell the BIG Lie before people like you before you figure out that government is only for itself and Comrade BLOGO and Friends. Now just like then who do you think will end up paying the tax. What happens when the business either pass on the tax or move out, then guess who the next target of the tax will be. As for God in Government, I though all you Liberals didn’t believe or didn’t want God involved. Oh I forgot it’s only when you need to pray for a tax hike. PS. How big is your business and how many people do you employ? As for Hammond that’s a great idea, I know many business that are considering the move. - Shelbyville - Wednesday, Mar 21, 07 @ 12:22 am: Remember Ross Perot and his “I hear a loud sucking sound?” - BillDemo - Wednesday, Mar 21, 07 @ 2:07 am: Let’s make one thing perfectly clear, (ala–Dick Nixon), nobody likes to pay taxes. However, any reasonable review of the last thirty years would indicate that Adam Smith was right when he warned against taking economic policy advice from businessmen because… “It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it.” Self interest is an interesting motivation, and when practiced by businessmen, the public should be very skeptical. Big business has fought every major improvement in working conditions, fair labor standards, socio-economic fairness,and like chicken little, claimed economic collapse was just around the corner. Afterall, The Great Depression wasn’t started because of Goverment Tax Fairness polcies, but rather, because of big tax cuts and income concentration in the upper classes which ignored raising productive capacity without broad consumer purchasing power. It’s time the middle class caught a break, and big business started paying their fair share. - Truthful James - Wednesday, Mar 21, 07 @ 7:24 am: A little math problem. Background: Except for the Land of the Todster, all properties are to be assessed at 33% of estimated market value. The State checks, the valuation assigned by the County and if there is a variance among all sales in that County, it assigns a multiplier to be applied to all properties. This creates an Equalized Assessed Valuation, the basis against which property tax rates are extended.. In the land of the Todster, the State has permitted property tax classifications to be used. Residences are to be assessed at 16% of Market Value, vacant land at another ratio, etc., until we come to commercial property which is assessed at 38% of estimated market value. But the State, in reveiewing prior year’s saless has determined that the true ratios (based mainly on housing transfers, are much lower. As a result it has assigned a multiplier against all property which over time has escalated to greater than 2.6. Now the math question, what percent of estimated market value for commercial property is subject to the tax extension? Answer: 94.80% is on the tax rolls. Bonus question: suppose the business wants to move and purchases a property in, day, Will County or Lake County where the multiplier is one and all property is assessed at 33% of market value, How much more will he be paying on a property of equal value in the land of the Todster? 287%, if the tax rates are equal — more if Will County property bears a lower tax rate. - Doodles - Wednesday, Mar 21, 07 @ 7:55 am: Health care is a worthy goal, but as the federal government has learned, it costs. Medicare, Medicaid, the prescription drug plan, etc. are skyrocketing because the costs of health care are skyrocketing. Once you make the commitment, you have to pay for it each year. I’d like to see some discussion on how to contain health care costs, not just pay for them. Similarly, education is a worthy goal, but an education system controlled by local school boards is no guarantee that more money means better education. Teacher contracts, building projects, administrator salaries, local school board whims, etc. can eat up new funds. I’d also like to see some discussion about real reforms in education. - Truthful James - Wednesday, Mar 21, 07 @ 7:58 am: Bill — Charters are undercut by HB 466, check it out. No school is free. Charters should be in competition with other Publics and Privates. There is not a lot of research on Illinois charters, they are so few as to provide an inadequate sample — and what self interested body is doing the reasearch? All students should have certified teachers, but certification is the least of the problem. Education courses are neat to get the teachers up to snuff. Subject Matter Mastery is what is lacking in the schoolroom. Check the percentage of teachers with degrees in the field they are teaching. The problem is that the EdSchool graduates get apy increases for every quarter of additiona EdSchool classwork, generally can not qualify for courses in the subject matter area. Yes the ISBE needs reform so it can properly set standards. It is now an apologist for Big Ed. There are qualified teachers both within the system and outside. There are many underqualified teachers in the system who once certified to teach never have to be recertified. “Content mastery”, keeping one chapter ahead in the textbook, does not make a teacher qualified. “qualified, certified, dedicated, union teachers ” Given that the State has lowered the certification standards for teachers, are you sure this is a good measure. All teachers should be dedicated, just like all auto workers on the line. The Schools of Ed are part of this. They man the gates. There are thousands of people in the US MIlitary retiring each year with Subject Matter mastery in Math and the Sciences. They have been qualified to teach at Military Academies and Colleges. Big Ed wants them to go back to school before they can teach. Yes you are an apologist, but I have a hunch that if “unions” were not involved, you would be more even handed. I am pleased that your neighborhood school is top notch. How do you measure the result? From dumbed down ISATs and PSATs and normed up results? When yours go to college, is remdiation required? There is not a lot of research on Illinois charters, they are so few as to provide an inadequate sample — and what self interested body is doing the reasearch? - Truthful James - Wednesday, Mar 21, 07 @ 8:29 am: JTF – I am all for what you propose, but first there must be a parallel blure ribbon commission to identify and publicize all the waste of Illinois resources from existing programs — a la the Grace Commission or the much earlier Hoover Commission, both at the Federal level. Only then can we indicate to what extent tax reform is needed and to what level increased taxes will be required. - HoosierDaddy - Wednesday, Mar 21, 07 @ 10:29 am: Bill of Goods– one of three things has just happened: 1. You have engaged in some really funny and biting sarcasm. (I hope). 2. You really believe all of that crap and are in serious need of medical attention. 3. You really believe all that crap, Rod Blagojevich is really the Antichrist, and you are one of his dupes. I sure hope it’s #1! - bosslady - Friday, Mar 23, 07 @ 4:36 pm: Doodles and many other people on this message board I agree with allot of your points. I would like to add that solving problems quite often requires hitting it from mutiple fronts, that is if you want to solve it permantly. I have been in buisness for over 16 years and make my comment based on expierence not just opinion. Raising taxes first of all is a temporary solution. It does not address the fundamental problem of planning,budgeting and spending. We need more controls on healthcare costs. I had a recent MRI which was billed to my insurance company for the amount of $8,000. This was not a full body scan either. Our healthcare system needs reform at this level too. I was looking at one of our company phone bills the other day. This particular bill was for 590.00 and after the 13 taxes was applied it was then 780.00. Healthcare costs, telecom tax, employer match and even though every penny we make goes towards a bill I still had to pay a Federal income tax of 14,000 for 2006. I feel like we are already paying more then our fair share. His statement about corporations paying their fair share is ignorant and it is obvious to me that he has not gone through a process of dilagence before proposing this burdensome tax. I wonder how many other decisions he makes without thinking it through? hmmmm. Anyway thanks for reading my message. I will not stop at just posting this message because like I said earlier hitting it from mutiple fronts is quite often required to solve a problem. I will contact my local officials and take action when I see an oportunity. I will also move my corporate office out of Illinois if this crazy tax bill gets passed. Enough is enough….. Bosslady Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.