Quinn Hopes For Tax Breaks For Financial Exchanges, Sears
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) -- The Illinois General Assembly begins the second round of its fall veto session Tuesday, and Gov. Pat Quinn is hoping tax relief is among the things on the agenda.
As WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports, tax relief is on some other wish lists too.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants lawmakers to grant tax relief for the CME Group and the Chicago Board Options Exchange to keep them from leaving the state.
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Quinn wants to broaden the relief package to include Sears, which has also threatened to move out of Illinois.
"Sears is a company with 6,000 employees. We want to keep them here; have them grow here. I've met with their executives. I've met with the executives of the exchanges, and I think they bring a lot of jobs to our area and our state, and then there's also other things that are important, like everyday families who are part of our state of Illinois, and we want to help them get a little more money," Quinn said.
Thus, Quinn wants to increase the earned income tax credit for low- and middle-income families. The mayor agrees.
The CME Group, parent company of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade, has been threatening to leave Illinois over a hike tax hike approved this year, which jacked the corporate income tax up from 7.3 to 9.5 percent.
Late last month, a state Senate Committee approved a tax break for the exchanges that changes the way derivates traded online are taxed. Currently 100 percent of online derivatives are taxed, and a pending measure sponsored by Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) would cut that to about 28 percent.
Sears parent company Sears Holdings Corp. confirmed last month that it is in discussions about two prospective sites that are not in Illinois over the corporate tax hike. Reports said the two sites are in Austin, Texas, and Columbus, Ohio.
