Caterpillar Threatens to Leave Ill. Over High Taxes...

**megimoo** · 03-25-2011, 09:12 PM

Caterpillar CEO's letter talks of leaving Illinois

SPRINGFIELD -- The chairman and CEO of Peoria-based Caterpillar Inc. is raising the specter of moving the heavy equipment maker out of Illinois.

In a letter sent March 21 to Gov. Pat Quinn, Caterpillar chief executive officer Doug Oberhelman said officials in at least four other states have approached the company about relocating since Illinois raised its income tax in January.

"I want to stay here. But as the leader of this business, I have to do what's right for Caterpillar when making decisions about where to invest," Oberhelman wrote in the letter obtained Friday by the Lee Enterprises Springfield bureau. "The direction that this state is headed in is not favorable to business and I'd like to work with you to change that."

Oberhelman said he's being actively courted to move.

"I have been called, 'cornered' in meetings and 'wined and dined' -- the heat is on," Oberhelman wrote. "Before, I never really considered living anywhere else and certainly never considered the possibility of Caterpillar relocating. But I have to admit, the policymakers in Springfield seem to make it harder by the day."

Cat spokesman Jim Dugan said the letter was designed to show Quinn that Oberhelman wants to be involved in finding solutions that benefit the company, which employs 23,000 people in Illinois.

http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local...cc4c002e0.html

**Starbuck** · 03-25-2011, 09:26 PM

3M has a company policy of no more expansion in Minneapolis for that same reason. They expand in Texas.

**fettpett** · 03-25-2011, 09:39 PM

they should go to Wisconsin :D

**PoliCon** · 03-25-2011, 09:49 PM

When the hell will the left wake up and realize they're SHRINKING their tax base and cutting their tax income by raising taxes. AND when businesses go - not only do they lose the taxes they would have gotten from the business - but they also lose the taxes they would have gotten from the employees and from the associated businesses and their employees.

**fettpett** · 03-25-2011, 09:55 PM

Originally Posted by PoliCon

When the hell will the left wake up and realize they're SHRINKING their tax base and cutting their tax income by raising taxes. AND when businesses go - not only do they lose the taxes they would have gotten from the business - but they also lose the taxes they would have gotten from the employees and from the associated businesses and their employees.

yep...works the same on a national level when a company moves it's headquarters overseas

**Apocalypse** · 03-25-2011, 10:02 PM

This will be an almost deathblow to some towns in Illinois.

Cat employs almost 94000 company wide, and is headquartered in Ill. If they leave that is a lot of jobs, and $ following them. With them follows suppliers, truckers, and so forth. This has got to have gotten the attention of the Gov there now that his high taxes is driving business out of the state.

If they leave, I hope they jump the river and move into Bettindorf Iowa. That would be an economic boom for Iowa and a sore to Ill having them move just across the river away from them.

**fettpett** · 03-25-2011, 10:10 PM

Originally Posted by Apocalypse

This will be an almost deathblow to some towns in Illinois.

Cat employs almost 94000 company wide, and is headquartered in Ill. If they leave that is a lot of jobs, and $ following them. With them follows suppliers, truckers, and so forth. This has got to have gotten the attention of the Gov there now that his high taxes is driving business out of the state.

If they leave, I hope they jump the river and move into Bettindorf Iowa. That would be an economic boom for Iowa and a sore to Ill having them move just across the river away from them.

either one would work, but how much of a slap in the face would it be to those assholes that have claimed that Walker's budget/tax moves wouldn't bring jobs to WI and they ended up the new home for Cat?

**Rockntractor** · 03-25-2011, 10:13 PM

Originally Posted by Apocalypse

This will be an almost deathblow to some towns in Illinois.

Cat employs almost 94000 company wide, and is headquartered in Ill. If they leave that is a lot of jobs, and $ following them. With them follows suppliers, truckers, and so forth. This has got to have gotten the attention of the Gov there now that his high taxes is driving business out of the state.

If they leave, I hope they jump the river and move into Bettindorf Iowa. That would be an economic boom for Iowa and a sore to Ill having them move just across the river away from them.

They are discontinuing their truck engines because of the governments new pollution regs for diesels.

**fettpett** · 03-25-2011, 10:17 PM

Originally Posted by Rockntractor

They are discontinuing their truck engines because of the governments new pollution regs for diesels.

:eek: thats bull....they went through that change in the sulfur regs a couple years ago and now making it harder to produce diesel engines? now you know that they don't care about the environment

**Rockntractor** · 03-25-2011, 10:25 PM

Originally Posted by fettpett

:eek: thats bull....they went through that change in the sulfur regs a couple years ago and now making it harder to produce diesel engines? now you know that they don't care about the environment

Yep, finest truck engines ever made, no longer in production.