CHICAGO–The Illinois corporate income tax rate is not 4.8% as some politicians and media writers have erroneously reported, but actually 7.3%. While the base rate is 4.8%, a constitutional amendment passed in 1980 added another 2.5%. This additional tax was named the “personal property replacement tax,” but no matter what they call it, it’s still a statewide corporate income tax.
“Senate President John Cullerton (D) is now saying that he wants to raise the state corporate income tax rate from 4.8% to 8.4%,” said Jim Tobin, President of National Taxpayers United of Illinois (NTUI). “What Cullerton fails to mention is the added 2.5% personal property replacement tax, which would actually make the state corporate tax 10.9%.”
“This would make it the single highest corporate income tax rate in the country, beating out Pennsylvania by an entire percentage point,” Tobin continued. “Hiking this tax will increase unemployment and force businesses to move to nearby states with lower rates, like Indiana (8.5%), Wisconsin (7.9%), Missouri (6.25%), and Kentucky (4%), or even to states with no corporate income tax like Nevada and Texas.”
This corporate tax increase is on top of the 75% increase Cullerton and Gov. Quinn are already pushing for the state personal income tax.
“The people of our state are struggling with a 9.6% unemployment rate. Anyone who supports job growth in Illinois should be working to reduce corporate income tax rates. Raising taxes will only push businesses and jobs out of Illinois.”
