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ENERGY
COMPANY SHELVES $500M ILLINOIS EXPANSION, CITES ‘ANTI-BUSINESS’ CLIMATE
Illinois Policy Institute/
Vincent Caruso
An Illinois-based energy company will halt
construction on a planned $500 million plant, a casualty of the Land of
Lincoln’s hostile business environment.
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 An energy company based in Hennepin, Illinois, has decided to
abandon its plans for a $500 million expansion in west central Illinois.
Marquis Energy, which also operates a facility in Wisconsin, had initially hoped
to build an 800-acre ethanol plant near Bluffs, Illinois – about 60 miles west
of Springfield. It was designed to mirror its Hennepin site and scheduled for
completion by 2020 before the company halted construction “indefinitely” in
April. Marquis decided instead to expand operations across state lines.
What prompted the decision? “Illinois government’s anti-business and high tax
policies will require us to pursue company expansions in surrounding states,”
CEO Mark Marquis said in a statement, according to the Jacksonville
Journal-Courier.
 Marquis pointed to Senate Bill 1407, which he argued would restrict the
company’s options for soliciting contractors, and interfere with “the agreed
upon price” between them. That price is already driven up significantly by
Illinois’ outdated workers’ comp law.
The federal government’s protectionist trade practices have also hurt business,
Marquis said, limiting the company’s export capacity and reducing their product
value.
Marquis Energy isn’t the first employer to give up on Illinois. In 2019,
Illinoisans watched numerous manufacturers shutter facilities and slash jobs in
Illinois, while relocating or expanding across state lines.
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Unfortunately, poor policymaking in Springfield is likely to exacerbate the
problem. On May 1, the Illinois Senate passed SJRCA 1, which would allow
Illinois to change its income tax system from flat to progressive. The amendment
would also allow for the nation’s highest tax on business income.
Illinois’ constitutionally protected flat tax is one of its few competitive
advantages. And while a high property tax burden and hostile regulatory
environment have crippled Illinois’ economy in spite of its flat tax, boosting
economic growth will be even more difficult without it. According to the Tax
Foundation, whose State Business Tax Climate Index currently ranks Illinois at
36th, the Land of Lincoln would plummet to 48th in the nation under Gov. J.B.
Pritzker’s “fair tax” proposal.
Smaller businesses are already shedding jobs to brace for a $15 minimum wage
increase signed into law by Pritzker, while others anticipate it will give an
advantage to businesses in neighboring states.
To recharge the state economy, Springfield must give employers a reason to
invest in the state. Unfortunately, Pritzker and state lawmakers seem determined
to give them more reasons to worry.
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