... Neighboring States Gleeful, Mayor Daley Whines; Escape to Wisconsin; Arrogance, Greed, Corruption

Tax insanity in Illinois is now official. Governor Pat Quinn signed off on a 67% hike in personal income taxes and a 46% hike in corporate taxes the moment the bill hit his desk.

The personal income tax rate immediately rises to 5 percent, up from 3 percent. The corporate income tax rate rises immediately to 7 percent, up from 4.8 percent. The Chicago Tribune reports Quinn, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton -- all Chicago Democrats -- muscled the tax hike through in the eleventh hour of the lame-duck legislature. Only Democrats voted for the bills.

In contrast to virtually every other state in the nation, Quinn has made no mention of any cuts in services or any givebacks by public unions. Mayor Daley is largely responsible. Any comments from Daley regarding tax hikes would have cost Quinn the election. Instead, Mayor Daley is whining now.

Quinn's Blatant Lies

The Daily Herald notes that On the campaign trail, Gov. Pat Quinn told voters he'd veto any income tax hike that would raise Illinois' rate over 4 percent.

I believe this is one of the fastest proven lies political history.

Escape to Wisconsin

Newly elected Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker makes some hay of Illinois' 66% income tax hike with a succinct message 'Escape to Wisconsin'

Wisconsin is open for business. In these challenging economic times while Illinois is raising taxes, we are lowering them. On my first day in office I called a special session of the legislature, not in order to raise taxes, but to open Wisconsin for business. Already the legislature is taking up bills to provide tax relief to small businesses, to create a job-friendly legal environment, to lessen the regulations that stifle growth and to expand tax credits for companies that relocate here and grow here. Years ago Wisconsin had a tourism advertising campaign targeted to Illinois with the motto, 'Escape to Wisconsin.' Today we renew that call to Illinois businesses, 'Escape to Wisconsin.' You are welcome here. Our talented workforce stands ready to help you grow and prosper.

Neighboring States Gleeful, Mayor Daley Whines

The LA Times reports Neighboring states gleeful over Ill. tax increase

While many states consider boosting their economies with tax cuts, Illinois officials are betting on the opposite tactic: dramatically raising taxes to resolve a budget crisis that threatened to cripple state government.

"It's like living next door to 'The Simpsons' -- you know, the dysfunctional family down the block," Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said in an interview on Chicago's WLS-AM.

Illinois state Sen. Dan Duffy, a Republican, labeled the tax increase "the nuclear bomb of jobs bills."

There was even some carping from Illinois Democrats. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley predicted jobs will start trickling out of Illinois with little fanfare.

"Businesses don't have press conferences like this and announce they're moving 50 people out, 60 people out, 70 people," Daley said at an event in Chicago.

Oak Lawn Business Owners on Edge

The OakLawnPatch reports Business Owners on Edge About New Tax Hikes

As state lawmakers prayed, celebrated a new gubernatorial inauguration and passed historic tax increases this week, Oak Lawn entrepreneurs and independent businesses prayed that they can keep their doors open another month in dismal economic landscape.

"Personally, I am only days, weeks away from closing the business as it is," said Chad Reno, owner of Cornerstone Café at 5177 W. 95th St. "I'm hanging on by a thread. I can't see finding more money to pay out."

Glen Kato, a board member of the Oak Lawn Chamber of Commerce and web designer, watched his business "virtually dry up" as clients tightened their belts.

John Crivellone, another chamber board member and owner of Security Associates, feels there is more that Quinn can be doing to bring the state's $15 billion deficit in check besides hiking taxes.

"It's so excessive, it's comical," Crivellone said. "We're in the middle of a recession right now. Any expert on economics will tell you this will be so detrimental to the economy that it would be like putting nails in a coffin for the small businessman.

For George Rock, co-owner of Every Good Gift at 10336 S. Cicero Ave., the new tax hikes are a surefire way to kill job growth.

"To me, it's just so counterproductive it's ridiculous," Rock said. "I characterize it as a very lazy way to approach this. It's uninventive and they should be looking for ways to increase efficiency and they're not bothering."

Quincy Business Leader Cites "Arrogance, Greed and Corruption"

In Quincy, Illinois Business Leaders Sound Off On Tax Hike

At Knapheide Manufacturing, Bo Knapheide, the company's vice president of fleet, held a news conference which blasted the state's actions.

"The past three years have been very difficult for Knapheide Manufacturing and our people," Knapheide said. "We have undergone significant layoffs, wage freezes, elimination of performance bonuses and numerous cost cutting measures."

Knapheide said the tax increase does not help the company compete in what is already a tough business environment.

"Price competition in our depressed markets is fierce," he said. "It is impossible to full cover increase in material costs, energy costs, the added expense of Obamacare and now the added cost of the waste and corruption in Illinois government."

Knapheide said downstate businesses are expected to pay for "the Chicago political machine" that is "destroying not only Chicago and Cook County, but the economy of the entire state of Illinois. The machine carefully takes care of their political cronies at the expense of the Illinois taxpayer. Their arrogance, greed and corruption leave the people of Illinois with high income taxes, high property taxes and high unemployment."

Mike Nobis of JK Creative Printers and head of the Quincy Area Action Council issued a statement via e-mail.

"The new tax increase will be really hard on this state and Illinois businesses will be under extreme pressures once the tax increases take affect which will be immediate once Quinn signs the new taxes into law," Nobis said.

Jeff Mays of the Illinois Business Roundtable said his analysis shows the Legislature's action will make the problem worse with a continual annual operating deficit that will hit $4 billion in 2016 and lead to an overall deficit of $14.2 billion.

New Illinois Constitutional Amendment Allows Gubernatorial Recall

Last November, Illinois voters were presented a chance to vote on a constitutional amendment allowing governors to be recalled. I am pleased to report the amendment passed by a wide margin and is now law.

Campaign To Recall Illinois Governor Pat Quinn Underway

My Campaign To Recall Illinois Governor Pat Quinn Is Underway

I have exciting news this morning. I am launching a campaign to recall Illinois governor Pat Quinn.

This is not a frivolous effort. It is a serious undertaking and one in which I intend to see to the end. It will take hard work and lots of volunteers but we will be successful.

I need volunteers to ...

• Gather signatures
• Talk to state legislative representatives to get them on board
• Provide legal help
• Design a website
• Help with advertising

I will pay for website hosting and domain names.

We need to be successful because Governor Quinn has plans that will destroy Illinois.

Will You Stand Up To The Injustice?

There are many tasks to be performed and I will need volunteers from every county to gather signatures. I estimate we need about 520,000 signatures. My goal is to get 700,000.

If you can volunteer, time, web design, advertising, legal help, or any kind of general assistance, I would appreciate it. We need to put a stop to Quinn's proposals that will drive businesses and jobs out of the state and massively raise your taxes as part of the bargain.

Call To Action

I wrote the above call to action post on Sunday. Since then I have had over 100 volunteers including 10 web designers, a lawyer, and numerous business owners. Work on a website is underway. I have secured the appropriate domain names. One business owner who employs about 100 people graciously volunteered services of his legal department.

This is going to be a long slug, no doubt about it. Yet other than leave the state, there is little else we can do. I do need business owners to contact their legislative representatives and pressure them to sign the petition to Recall Quinn.

There are 118 state representatives and 59 state senators. To get started, all we need are 20 reps (10 each party), and 10 senators (5 each party), before we start the signature gathering process.

Please contact your representatives and get them on board. In the meantime, please email Recall Governor Pat Quinn Today (RecallQuinnToday@gmail.com) and lend your support to the effort to save the state of Illinois from Quinn's fiscal recklessness.

Please state in the email what you can do to help.