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 Auto parts company Flex-N-Gate will double the size of its
60,000-square-foot plastics plant in Danville, a project that will come at the
expense of Illinois taxpayers.
The company will add “at least 100” Illinois jobs, according to the
News-Gazette, in exchange for $1.2 million in tax credits through the state’s
Economic Development for a Growing Economy, or EDGE, program. The project is
estimated to cost roughly $20 million.
Flex-N-Gate previously received $3.7 million through EDGE last year to build a
plant on Chicago’s South Side, according to the News-Gazette, which is expected
to be operational by 2019. That EDGE agreement will require the plant to provide
nearly 300 jobs over three years.
 While more jobs for Illinoisans is a positive development, awarding tax breaks
to select companies should not be considered a path to long-term growth. Tax
revenue lost to such incentive programs must ultimately be found elsewhere,
shifting the burden downward onto taxpayers and small businesses.
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Moreover, special incentive programs do not
guarantee jobs will remain in Illinois. For example, rail company
Nippon Sharyo recently shuttered its Illinois plant, despite having
received over $10 million in subsidies and tax credits from the
state since 2010.
A substantial portion of new jobs in Illinois are created by small
businesses – those with 50 or fewer employees. Most of those
businesses, however, are forced to weather the state’s unfriendly
business climate without special tax breaks. State lawmakers should
work to enact pro-growth reforms that improve the state’s business
environment for all employers, rather than granting special favors
to larger companies – at the expense of others.
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