Illinois scrambles as Sears looks for an exit

One of the best ways to assure businesses that your state is “business-friendly” is to establish low, stable tax rates that don’t punish hard work or pick winners and losers. Tax increases aren’t the answer, and the list of states to which Sears might move — Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas — are mostly the usual, business-friendly suspects, some of whom may literally be laughing at Illinois’ economic policies all the way to the bank. For example, Illinois now applies a 5-percent income tax rate (formerly 3 percent) against its residents; Tennessee and Texas don’t even have an income tax. Under those conditions, where would you rather live and work?

But, Missourians, do note: Our income tax rate settles in at 6 percent. Missouri’s leaders haven’t written off fiscal discipline entirely, but the state’s income tax probably ought to be revisited sometime soon. Food for thought.