Gosh, this is getting depressing. It seems like every month- Kenosha County continues to lose more high paying jobs. Today's announcement, 113 workers at ITT, will be laid off starting in September. The work at ITT will either move to a different state or the work will cease all together.
From the Kenosha News-
Work done at the Kenosha facility will be transferred to two of ITT's three other facilities in Amory, Miss., and Simi Valley, Calif. The other U.S.-based facility is in Lancaster, Pa.
Just last month- Chrysler closed one of it's main engine lines down- laying off 250 high paying factory jobs.
In the last few years, we have lost jobs at Snap-On Tools, PowerBrace, Sanmina, SuperValue, Chrysler, and on and on and on.
10 to 20 years ago, business' were flocking across the border from Illinois into Kenosha and Walworth counties. Not anymore, they are heading out again. Lake County and McHenry County in Illinois realized how many business' they were losing and did something about it. They lowered their county taxes. It is actually cheaper to live in Lake County in Illinois than it is to live in Kenosha County. The houses cost about the same, the taxes are about the same, but all of the jobs are in Illinois. It's only a matter of time before people start leaving Kenosha and moving back to Illinois.
For folks like me, who live in Wisconsin, but work in Illinois, we have very little reason to stay in Wisconsin. Especially with the price of gas, people will start moving closer to where they work. Right now, the taxes are holding steady in Illinois and they continue to go up in Wisconsin. By the way, I buy my gas in Lake County, Illinois- it is cheaper there.
This just makes me furious. How do we stop this? Industries are growing in Illinois, but we are losing in Wisconsin.
Mark Green needs to start talking about TABOR and the TPA again. The people of Illinois have a TABOR and county governments cannot increase their taxes beyond the rate of inflation +1%. It is time for the Wisconsin taxpayer to decide how much government can raise their taxes, or people will continue to leave Wisconsin and go where the jobs are.
2 comments:
I agree, Mark Green needs to talk about taxes and economic development. Those should be the cornerstones of his message. Unfortunately, the Republican Party in Wisconsin is sitting on the electoral streetcorner holding a sign that says "Will govern for votes".
Wisconsin was just over 11,000 votes away from changing colors last election (voter irregularities in Milwaukee county alone could have shifted th estate), but the state's Republican party lacks the willingness to engage the Democrats in a war of ideas.
There are two things that can win an election: 1) simple ideas that voters can understand, and 2) a dynamic and popular candidate. Tommy Thompson kept winning because he fit into the second category. AUnfortunately, there are no other available candidates in Wisconsin that fit that bill. So all we have to rely on in option #1, a war of ideas. C'mon Republicans, get off your intellectual butts and go to the mattresses! We can win Wisconsin!
Are you aware of any Illinois TABOR besides this one?
Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights
You have the right to call the Illinois Department of Revenue for help in resolving tax problems.
You have the right to privacy and confidentiality under most tax laws.
You have the right to respond within specified time periods to our notices by asking questions, paying the amount due, or providing proof to refute our findings.
You have the right to appeal our decisions in many instances within specified time periods by asking for our review or by taking the issue to court.
If you have overpaid your taxes, you have the right to a credit (or, in some cases, a refund) of that overpayment.
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