An April Anderson Economic Group study ranked the tax burdens on businesses for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Illinois businesses paid 9.4 percent of their profits in taxes to the state in 2015, while businesses in most of Illinois’ neighboring states paid percentages in the range of 7 to 8.7 percent, according to the study.
Only Minnesota, with a rate of 9.7 percent, was higher in its business tax burden.
“Taxes are certainly not No. 1 on the list when businesses are considering location,” Jason Horwitz, a senior consultant with the Anderson Economic Group who helped to prepare the report, told Illinois News Network.
But Horwitz pointed out that the state’s corporate income tax, at 7.75 percent, is among the highest in the nation. This might not be a major factor in a business’s decision to locate in the Chicago area, which has a great deal of talent and infrastructure, but it can bear on businesses considering to locate their operations further south in Illinois, he said.