Illinois Businesses Get Lucrative EDGE Tax Breaks, Fall Short Of Job Goals
From the Chicago Tribune
Illinois' flagship job program has awarded millions of dollars to companies that never hired an additional employee.
It's doled out millions more in tax breaks for corporations that eliminated jobs and became smaller.
And it's allowed companies to reap lucrative rewards and then relocate to other states without penalty or repayment.
Illinois cut these deals through a strategy dubbed EDGE — short for Economic Development for a Growing Economy — that was launched in 1999 by Gov. George Ryan as a way to create jobs and lure businesses from other states.
But what began as a modest number of tax breaks for a handful of companies has mushroomed into a billion-dollar giveaway rife with failure.
In the first comprehensive analysis of 783 EDGE agreements, the Chicago Tribune found that two of every three businesses that completed the incentive program failed to maintain the number of employees they agreed to retain or hire.
State officials can't say how many jobs have been created through the job program; nor can they say how many jobs EDGE companies have eliminated. The Tribune, however, found that 79 current or former EDGE recipients have reported eliminating 23,369 jobs through layoffs and closures since entering the program.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Chicago Tribune
Illinois' flagship job program has awarded millions of dollars to companies that never hired an additional employee.
It's doled out millions more in tax breaks for corporations that eliminated jobs and became smaller.
And it's allowed companies to reap lucrative rewards and then relocate to other states without penalty or repayment.
Illinois cut these deals through a strategy dubbed EDGE — short for Economic Development for a Growing Economy — that was launched in 1999 by Gov. George Ryan as a way to create jobs and lure businesses from other states.
But what began as a modest number of tax breaks for a handful of companies has mushroomed into a billion-dollar giveaway rife with failure.
In the first comprehensive analysis of 783 EDGE agreements, the Chicago Tribune found that two of every three businesses that completed the incentive program failed to maintain the number of employees they agreed to retain or hire.
State officials can't say how many jobs have been created through the job program; nor can they say how many jobs EDGE companies have eliminated. The Tribune, however, found that 79 current or former EDGE recipients have reported eliminating 23,369 jobs through layoffs and closures since entering the program.
Read more in our daily News Update...