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EDGE TAX
CREDIT PROGRAM EXPIRES, BUT EXTENSION PASSES ILLINOIS HOUSE
Illinois Policy Institute
Illinois’ EDGE tax credit program expired
April 30; however, proponents of EDGE have passed a one-month extension
in the Illinois House of Representatives.
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 The Economic Development for a Growing Economy, or EDGE, tax credit program
expired April 30. However, lawmakers who support EDGE are working to keep the
program alive. House Bill 1125, which passed the Illinois House April 28, would
extend EDGE until May 31, 2017.
The EDGE program is intended to provide incentives to companies to create new
jobs in Illinois by giving them tax credits for new hires. But the program’s
efficacy is questionable. Since the program started in 2001, EDGE has spent more
than $1.3 billion in tax credits for politically connected companies. EDGE’s
advocates claim the program has created at least 34,000 jobs in Illinois, but
despite all those taxpayer dollars, Illinois is still nearly 20,000 jobs short
of the peak employment it achieved in September 2000.
EDGE has a sunset provision and was originally scheduled to end permanently Dec.
31, 2016. But in January 2017, lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner extended EDGE’s
expiration date to April 30.
The chief sponsor of HB 1125 is state Rep. Natalie Manley, D-Joliet, although
House Speaker Mike Madigan originally filed the bill in January 2017. While HB
1125 passed the House April 28, it cannot make it to the other chamber until the
Senate reconvenes May 2.
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The vote to extend EDGE won in a landslide with 107 yes votes to
only three nays. Two Republicans and one Democrat voted against the
measure: state Rep. Scott Drury, D-Highwood, state Rep. David
McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills and state Rep. Mark Batinick,
R-Plainfield.
“Big companies are getting these tax breaks,” McSweeney told the
Alton Daily News. “I want big companies to come to Illinois, but
small businesses are creating 80 percent of the jobs. Why are we
picking winners and losers? Government officials cannot pick winners
and losers.”
And while multibillion-dollar companies like Amazon receive continue
to receive tax breaks from the state, Illinois residents face some
of the highest property taxes in the nation and some of the slowest
economic growth in the country.
Rather than continue selective tax breaks for the politically
connected, Illinois lawmakers should focus on passing real tax
relief for all residents and businesses and implementing pro-growth
reforms that would make Illinois an attractive state for a wide
range of job creators.
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