CALLING OUT, CALLING IN YOU AINT SEEN NOTHING LIKE THE MIGHTY QUINN (QUINN THE GOVERNOR)

CME Group eyes Illinois exit

The company that owns Chicago's two leading futures exchanges is weighing whether to move some operations from Illinois, citing the state's corporate tax rate increase.

"We're investigating what would be in the best interests of our shareholders," Terrence Duffy, executive chairman of CME Group Inc., said at the firm's annual meeting Wednesday, noting that such a move would not mean CME would abandon its presence in Chicago, home to its markets for more than a century.
The state in January raised the corporate income tax rate temporarily to 7 percent from 4.8. Corporations also pay a 2.5 percent tax on income, called the personal property replacement tax, which is collected by the state and flows to local governments. The two rates taken together come to 9.5 percent, the third-highest rate in the U.S., according to the Tax Foundation, a non-partisan Washington-based research group.

MORE FROM THE MIGHTY QUINN

Illinois gained nationwide notoriety in January when Governor Pat Quinn signed into law a 67% hike in the personal income tax rate while lifting the corporate tax rate to 9.5%, the fourth highest in the nation. How is that working out?

The good news is that corporate tax receipts in Springfield are up by about $300 million amid the economic recovery—though the state comptroller's office announced in April that the state still faces $8 billion in unpaid bills. The bad news is that, according to the state's Department of Commerce, Illinois has already shelled out some $230 million in corporate subsidies to keep more than two dozen companies from fleeing the state. And more are on the way.

THE MIGHTY (BAD) QUINN

in two years in office Mr. Quinn has doled out corporate welfare to at least 80 firms, costing the state nearly $500 million, according to a tally by the Chicago Tribune. Late last year Navistar, the commercial truck engine maker, secured $65 million in handouts. Continental Tire nabbed $19 million. Even deal-of-the-day Web business Groupon, which is preparing an IPO to raise $750 million, grabbed $3.5 million in tax credits to stay in Chicago. U.S. Cellular got a $7.2 million package to keep its headquarters in the Chicago area, while Chrysler received an "investment package" worth $62 million for its Belvidere assembly plant.

AND BOB DYLAN SINGS.....

CALLING OUT, CALLING IN YOU AINT SEEN NOTHING LIKE THE MIGHTY QUINN
CALLING OUT, CALLING IN YOU AINT SEEN NOTHING LIKE THE MIGHTY QUINN
When Quinn the Governor comes around everybody is gonna run from him...
CALLING OUT, CALLING IN YOU AINT SEEN NOTHING LIKE THE MIGHTY QUINN