Lawmakers Pass Bill Demanding Open Books On Corporate Tax Breaks
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) -- Before adjourning the spring session and leaving Springfield last week, Illinois lawmakers sent Gov. Quinn a bill that would require the state to reveal the details publicly on corporate tax breaks.
As WBBM Newsradio's Dave Marsett reports, the bill would require the details to be revealed as soon as they are complete.
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But the sponsor, Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), said he had to cut a provision that would have created a committee to review EDGE tax credits. Such credits are provided by the state to companies threatening to leave.
A spokeswoman for Quinn says the governor has not decided whether to sign the bill.
Franks believes Quinn opposes more oversight of the tax breaks that he often trumpets as economic tools.
Illinois has more than quadrupled its corporate tax breaks since 2006 to more than $270 million in 2010. The state often gets poor marks for its oversight of those tax breaks.
Quinn and state lawmakers made headlines last year when they approved hefty tax breaks for Hoffman Estates-based Sears Holdings Corp., and for Chicago-based CME Group, after both companies had been threatening to leave Illinois over a corporate tax hike that took effect at the beginning of last year.
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