Allen Skillicorn, the Republican candidate in Illinois House District 66, called for changes in Illinois business and worker's compensation regulations last week, saying the current regulations and expensive worker's compensation insurance are among the factors that make Illinois the second worst states for small businesses.
A recent Thumbtack Small Business Friendliness Survey ranked Illinois as second from the bottom in small business perceptions of government policies. The survey involved more than 12,000 responses from 78 cities in 35 states to provide side-by-side rankings.
The survey revealed that the difficulty of starting a business in Illinois as well as business, labor and tax regulations earned the state Fs from the respondents.
Thumbtack economist Lucas Puente said that states with business-friendly climates make it easy to start a business and provide consistent enforcement of government regulations. Those states also help small businesses with a variety of training programs and informative websites.
"Illinois' short-sighted business over-regulation and excessively expensive worker compensation system leave us ranking second least business friendly in the nation," Skillicorn said. "Here's a novel idea, what if our elected representatives worked to solve these problems? Next thing you know, our economy could start improving enough that we could pass a budget. I say dare to dream about an economically viable Illinois."
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