Thank You Jimmy John!
Thank you Jimmy John for saying...and doing...what many business owners in this State are likely thinking, but lack the ability or fortitude to do...get outta here!! The welcome signage at our State Line should be changed from "Welcome to the Land of Lincoln" to "ILLINOIS....ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK". The leadership of this State...if that is really what you call it...needs to wake up ,smell the coffee, then be taken out back to the woodshed for a lesson to be learned. When the jobs leave...and they will...maybe, just maybe our BIG 3 of Quinn, Madigan, and Cullerton will get out of denial and make an attempt to do their job desriptions. Then again, I'm sure they are way to busy with their crayons drawing district lines to ensure re-election of their incompetence. Anyway, good luck to you and your Company wherever you land Mr. Liautaud. Based on the aroma coming out of Springfield, I truly have enjoyed your "free smells"
The lament of Jimmy John's
The lament of Jimmy John's owner is unjustified.
Quoting from the New York Times:
"Illinois legislators had the advantage of starting from a low base. The state’s 3 percent income tax rate was among the lowest in the nation. And the decision of the governor and legislature to raise taxes still leaves Illinois on par with — or slightly below — most neighboring states."
"The new Republican governor of Wisconsin has lampooned Illinois for raising taxes, and he has invited its businesses and residents to move north. But Wisconsin’s income tax rate is higher over all than that of Illinois. Income tax rates in Wisconsin range from 4.6 percent to 7.75 percent, and someone earning $10,000 or more gets taxed at least as much as a resident of Illinois."
And http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/tax_stru.htm. provides the individual income and corporate income tax rates for nearby states (where a range means a graduated tax).
Indiana: sales: 7%; individual income 3.4%; corporate income 8.5%
Wisconsin: sales: 5%; individual income 4.6 - 7.75; corporate income 7.9
Iowa: sales: 6%, individual income 0.36 - 8.98; corporate income 6.0 - 12.0
In Wisconsin and Iowa, food and prescriptions are exempt from sales. In Illinois these are
taxed at 1%
I provided a quote from the
I provided a quote from the New York Times. What do you dispute in that quote? There are no Wisconsin governors in or on the way to jail. Your rant on this forum which very few read will have no effect.
i am self employed have been
i am self employed have been 9 years.jimmy johns is no different any other business they get their tax right offs. so when he says donating to krannert he does, he did this a for tax right off.and to make him look like nice guy.just like any business. so how much he gave take that off his tax bill,then give more donation and more and more,guess what you can give so much that tax bill is $0.but he a nice guy. not. just give dont brag about it.
Now Greg, when someone gives
Now Greg, when someone gives a charitable donation, they are giving all of that money away. Yes, in certain circumstances they can count it as a business expense or a charitable donation, and it may give them some prestige or press in the community, but either way they still gave it ALL away, did they not?
If I give a million dollars to a charity, I may not have to pay taxes on it, but I still gave away a million dollars. Worst case scenario I could have kept half, right? So even if you look at it in a cynical way, I still gave away $500,000. Of course, I, personally did not give away a million dollars to anyone, but you get my meaning....
The man worked hard for many,
The man worked hard for many, many years. He is entitled to keep his money and enjoy life the way he sees fit. He did not work so hard for so long so public workers, I use the term loosely, can retire at 50 with 85% of their highest wage, guarenteed and them pay no state taxes on that retirement. Thanks to the public entitlement mentality so called workers, most of us won't be able to save for our own retirement.
To Citizen 1: Interesting.
To Citizen 1: Interesting. Guess I haven't been paying close attention. Seems like all I hear of the budget problem is the non-payment of this state program or that, or slow payment of, etc; If the pensions are sinking the ship now, it would seem they'd need to look into that. Maybe the promises were too optimistic.
(my, they've made the "Captcha" even harder to figure out what they mean--I really have no basic problem with your basic 26 letters and 10 digits)
The pensions are the 400 lb
The pensions are the 400 lb gorilla in the room, taking up 17% of the state's $27B budget and rapidly increasing to help pay off a pension backlog of $78B. So much of the sudden budget shortfalls stem from a sudden increase in required pension spending - the payment has increased 300% in the past decade - to make up for previous General Assemblies skipping out on pension payments because the state has never been able to afford them. And when we can't afford the sudden increase, we borrow. And when we can't afford to borrow, we refinance. It really just snowballs like anyone's debt would if you refused to cut costs or increase revenue as the state has done for some 20 years. Credit card bills pile up, late and collection notices arrive, you start selling off your assets on Craigslist, your credit rating is trashed, etc. It would have been nice if they had done something about it a long time ago before we got to the situation we're in but, unfortunately, I imagine we'll be climbing our way out for a good 10-20 years.
As one of the state employees who will be eligible to retire at 50 and draw a pension at 80% of my salary and not owe any state taxes on that income (I already don't pay any federal taxes AND still get a refund - how jacked up is that?), I'd support cuts to existing employees (not just new employees) or even converting to Social Security because I recognize that the benefits are too generous. I'd also support some form of across the board pay cut for all employees making over, say, $40K by, say, 10% (and even better, by 20% of the amount over $100K) which would include a cut for me. I am responsible enough with my personal finances to afford it and, although I could voluntarily make that salary reduction myself, doing so while administrators get raises only transfers my pay to someone else's pocket and doesn't end up saving the state any money. To allow that would be to allow myself to be taken advantage of but I would certainly support it if everyone shared in the burden, just as I supported the tax increase to share in that burden so worthy services like the DSC can continue to help the developmentally disabled.
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