Illinois Manufacturing Coalition pushing for extension of critical tax incentives

By Ryne Turke on April 28, 2016 at 1:00pm

An Illinois coalition comprised of more than a dozen manufacturing associations is attempting to extend four critical tax incentives.

House Bill 5715 has been “tied up” during the state budget discussion says Mark Denzler, Chief Operating Officer with the Illinois Manufacturers Association and one of the founders of the Advanced Illinois Manufacturing Coalition.

Denzler hopes to see the following measures move forward soon in the Illinois House.

“Those include the research and development tax credit, the manufacturing purchase credit and the graphic art sales tax exemption. The three of those have expired recently. Then finally, extend the sales tax exemption for coal aggregate mining equipment,” says Denzler.

According to Denzler, the manufacturing sector in Illinois employees about 570,000 employees, but that number is going down.

“A number of companies are moving their R and D (Research and Development) outside the state of Illinois. They are moving it to Iowa, Wisconsin and others where they have permanent R and D credit. For a manufacturing sector, research and development is the life blood of  manufacturing. We have to build new products and improve on current products to be able to have something to sell in the marketplace. These are the exact type of middle-class jobs that can support families. We need to attract these jobs in the state of Illinois, ” says Denzler.

Last year alone,fifteen-thousand manufacturing jobs were lost in the state. Denzler says passing these tax incentives will provide “stability” and “predictability” in the Illinois workforce.

Denzler says manufacturing companies in Jacksonville,dealing with food, creating new products and heavy machinery,will be impacted by these tax incentives.