Rockford Sun

State Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) spoke in favor of House Bill 1769, which offers state tax incentives for manufacturing electric vehicles in Illinois, and said the legislature needs to continue to enact similar bills to make the state more competitive in attracting businesses.

"This bill comes before us tonight for one simple reason, because right now Illinois is being out-competed by other states across the United States," Demmer said. "We need to make Illinois more competitive."

Illinois voters agree with that approach, Demmer said, which is why last year they overwhelmingly defeated Gov. J.B. Pritzker's proposal for a graduated state income.

Demmer pointed out that the state's corporate franchise tax was eliminated in 2019, "a tax that  affects hundreds of thousands of businesses in Illinois that’s paid  through the Secretary of State's Office. That's an  administrative nightmare that costs probably more in compliance than it does what it yields the state's treasury."

However, Pritzker successfully pushed to have the tax reinstated this year.

"Gov. Pritzker signed a bill into law to eliminate that tax, before he pivoted and decided to score political points by renaming it a corporate loophole instead of what it actually was which was tax  relief to every business in the state of Illinois," said Demmer.

Illinois needs to do more to make the state attractive to business, the legislator said.

"I think we  need to do anything we can to give Illinois a fighting chance to bring new jobs and new investments to our state," he said. "This thinking has to be with us on every bill we consider in this House and not just on an occasional bill to correct a major anti-competitive situation that we find ourselves in. This should be part of our thinking with each bill we consider."

H.B. 1769, known as the Re-imagining Electric Vehicles in Illinois Act, passed the legislature, clearing the House 110 to 2 and the Senate 55 to zero. It was signed into law by Pritzker last month.

"With every bill, legislators should ask, 'What will this do to attract new  jobs to Illinois? What will this do to attract new business to Illinois?" Demmer said. "What will this do to keep the businesses who have invested here thriving here and succeeding here instead of moving someplace else?"

Often, pro-business legislation is held hostage in negotiations, Demmer said.

"How can I tell the businesses who are looking at this incentive here tonight that it won't be reversed in next year's budget or the budget after that if the governor suddenly decides that instead it's a corporate loophole, instead of an incentive to attract businesses?" Hemmer asked. "He's done it  before, will he do it again? Whatever the case is, this bill does make Illinois more competitive, so let’s vote for it here tonight, but let’s  not flip-flop six months later."