SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - What a state takes away, it also can give back.
Less than a year after raising personal and corporate income taxes, Illinois officials are now considering a $250 million package of tax breaks for several prominent businesses threatening to leave the state, including Sears and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. To make the measure more palatable, individual taxpayers also would get a dollop of relief.
The idea of giving tax breaks to companies is a hard sell in the state Legislature when many families are struggling and the Occupy Wall Street movement is reflecting anger at corporate interests. But advocates say if Illinois doesn't take action, the businesses and their thousands of jobs will be lured away by states that are eager to take advantage.
"If we don't do it, another state will. That's the reality of the world in which we live," said Rep. John Bradley, a Marion Democrat who is chairman of the Illinois House Revenue Committee.
The Illinois Senate approved the tax breaks Tuesday, but the House rejected them with an overwhelming 8-99 vote. It's still possible that a revised version could be brought up for the House to consider.
Illinois' tax dilemma is a collision between two different goals: Balancing the budget and avoiding the image of a state that's bad for business. And in the process, officials want to avoid being exploited by companies making threats, perhaps empty ones, to flee Illinois.
When 2011 began, the state faced a deficit projected to hit $15 billion. The Democratic governor and Democratic majorities in the Legislature decided an income tax increase had to be part of the response to that gap.
They bumped the individual tax rate to 5 percent, up from 3 percent originally, and the corporate rate to 7 percent, from 4.8 percent. The increase, most of which is temporary and will expire in stages over the next 15 years, is supposed to generate about $6.8 billion in its first year.
Other states pounced. New Jersey, Indiana, Wisconsin and more began promoting themselves to Illinois businesses. They succeeded in drawing some companies away, despite protestations from Illinois officials that the state still has a low overall tax burden.
In the months since then, the same Democratic governor and Democratic legislators have passed measures to cut business costs for workers' compensation and unemployment insurance costs. Now the package of tax breaks is on the table.
Doug Whitley, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, sees the proposal as acknowledgement that officials went too far with the January tax increase.
"They overreached," Whitley said. "They're trying to bring the pendulum back to a more middle ground and they're trying to send a strong message to employers that elected officials are not oblivious to their outcry."
The tax package would renew a $15 million income tax credit and a break on local property taxes for Sears Holdings Corp., which has its headquarters in the Chicago suburbs.