After Governor JB Pritzker announced that he is freezing a new set of state business tax credits that could help small businesses recover from COVID, Republican Representatives are upset, saying that too many businesses are suffering that need the help. Governor Pritzker also called for decoupling the Illinois tax law from recently enacted federal business tax changes that would cost Illinois in excess of $500 million. They were scheduled to take effect on January 1st of this year. Representative Avery Bourne says she doesn’t understand why since it had full bipartisan support.

Representative Bourne says that they have too many businesses still asking for help. 

The state tax credits would have cost the state over $20 million a year and were authorized in 2019 as part of a series of tax changes.

Governor Pritzker says that “Right now, we cannot afford to expand tax breaks to businesses that already receive tax breaks. As we recover from the pandemic, we must focus on job creation and balancing our state budget. I am confident in our ability to grow our economy and put our state on firmer fiscal footing.”