Jobs Plan for Small Businesses to Create Chicago Jobs

Posted on April 13, 2010

Gov. Pat Quinn finally approved legislation allowing him to dole out $50 million to small business owners who hire new workers, a move that he promoted by saying that it would create many new Chicago jobs (click here).

According to PantaGraph.com, the plan, which is similar to a proposal floated by his Republican opponent, would give businesses employing fewer than 50 workers a $2,500 tax credit for each new employee hired after June 30.

The worker must say in the job for at least one year and earn a minimum of $25,000.

“It’s going to create jobs in Illinois,” Quinn told reporters gathered in his office in the Capitol. “My goal is to make small business mean big business in Illinois.”

The Chicago Democrat says the goal of the new law is to create 20,000 jobs at a time when the economy is floundering. But, state Sen. Bill Brady said the plan doesn’t go far enough.

“Most of the businesses, 95 percent of the business of Illinois, have less than 50 employees. We’d like them to grow and have more employees. This is a targeted tax credit; it’s a very targeted credit for those employers who hire people who have a job for more than a year,” Quinn said.

“This is something that’s going to help my business extremely, extremely much, because I actually started my business about 5 minutes after the recession started,” said small business owner Shon Harris.

Republican Candidate for Governor Bill Brady says the bill doesn’t go far enough. The 20,000 jobs estimated to be created by the bill is a fraction of 250,000 jobs lost last year.

The Bloomington Republican, who faces Quinn in the November election, had proposed a similar job-creation program during the GOP primary. But his would have affected all businesses — not just smaller firms.

“I voted for this bill, but I would like to see tax credits extended to all businesses that create jobs,” Brady said.

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Jobs Plan for Small Businesses to Create Chicago Jobs