RAUNER: YOUR VOTE NOT ENOUGH TO RAISE MINIMUM WAGE
GOP gubernatorial candidate takes aim at ‘corporate welfare’
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner, a multimillionaire businessman himself, offered up a series of proposals on Wednesday that he says aim to reform “corporate welfare.” His plan would include changing incentives offered to businesses to stay in Illinois, taxing the sale of racehorses as well as private jet and yacht inheritances.
The ideas were quickly dismissed by Gov. Pat Quinn’s campaign, which accused the Winnetka venture capitalist of stealing Quinn’s proposals.
Rauner said a central component of his reforms would be revamping an incentive program that gives special breaks to businesses that threaten to leave Illinois. His proposal would require an element of growth from those businesses if they want to receive state dollars — something Illinois Speaker Mike Madigan proposed in legislation that passed the Illinois House in May but was not called for a vote in the Senate.
Rauner said he would put forth his own economic incentive program to keep businesses in the state.
“We need something that’s clear, transparent, that’s fair and it applies to all and it’s all around job growth. An incentive plan, it should be fair and equitable,” Rauner told the Sun-Times in a phone interview Wednesday. “It shouldn’t allow for layoffs or a failure to grow. The most important thing we’re going to do is reduce the overall regulatory burden on businesses. That’s the No. 1 way to get economic growth.”
Rauner maintains that lowering the tax rate for individuals and businesses would drive growth, saying that high tax states have higher unemployment and fewer jobs. If elected governor, Rauner would have to contend with a $6 billion budget hole, and it remains unclear what Rauner would specifically do to fill the gap, outside of general reforms he has suggested.
“Instead of giving us a real plan to tackle the massive structural challenges facing Illinois, Billionaire Bruce has given us two chicken budgets, with today’s version including nothing but warmed-over window dressing, stolen Quinn proposals and hypocritical ideas,” said Quinn campaign spokeswoman Brooke Anderson.
Rauner said he would overhaul the EDGE program — Economic Development for a Growing Economy — as a starting point to broader changes to make Illinois more attractive to business.
Rauner maintains that Illinois will be competitive by lowering its tax rates on individuals and corporations as well as “corporate tax reduction and individual tax reduction.”
When Rauner was asked if trusting him to enact reforms against the wealthy was like trusting the fox to guard the chicken coop, he laughed, saying he came from a working family. “I’m running for governor to help every working family in this state. We have lost jobs, we’ve had decline under Pat Quinn. . . . Lousy schools in too many communities,” Rauner said.
Other parts of Rauner’s plan include s many elements that have been attempted in the past to no avail in the Illinois Legislature to no avail. That includes Rauner’s proposal to end the “big oil loophole,” an incentive that allows oil companies with an Illinois presence to drill offshore without paying state income taxes.