Kendall County Times

James Marter is urging Illinois voters to quickly exit off what he sees as a one-way street before it gets too late.

“I think the whole landscape of the state will change if this progressive tax goes through,” Marter told the Kendall County Times. “Businesses, residents and seniors will all be flooding out of Illinois and it’ll be for the same reason: Our taxes are just out of control.”

And Marter fears the worse could be yet come. A new Illinois Policy Institute analysis projects that small businesses across the state soon could be forced to pay as much as a 50.3% marginal income tax rate should the tax appearing on the Nov. 3 ballot in the form of a referendum question garner the support it needs for passage. Ignoring growing warnings from many that the tax stands to handcuff small business owners even more, the governor continues to push his signature proposal as one that will only mean higher tax rates for the state’s most affluent residents.

At around 60% of net job creation, small business owners currently rank as the state’s biggest job creators. But those numbers could soon be on the decline, with researchers finding an increase in the top marginal tax rate could mean a slide in the hiring practices of entrepreneurs and slumping earnings for workers.

“If it happens more people with incomes that allow them to will be leaving Illinois,” Marter added. “There’ll be a downturn on everything, with small businesses having to cut back to survive and many of them not making it at all. I saw a recent article rating all states on tax burden and Illinois was dead last.”

Marter added those choosing to walk away and doing the only think they feel they can to save themselves.

“It’s not that people want to, they just see the choice of having the same home and same property in a different state but much less taxes as a no-brainer. It’s just economic common sense.”