Ill at ease over Illinois’ business profile, District 66 Republican House candidate Allen Skillicorn recently related how doing business in Illinois simply became too expensive for one family's business, forcing it out of state.
Hoist Liftruck, a family-run forklift business operated in Illinois for nearly 18 years by Marty Flaska and his son, moved to Indiana in March after discovering the relocation would net the company $2 million in savings annually - creating 500 new jobs for Illinois’ east-bordering neighbor.
According to Illinois Policy, the average Illinois manufacturing employee earns $35,400 annually. Across the state's border in Indiana, however, workers make $55,000 in comparable positions.
“I know and have worked with the Flaskas,” Skillicorn said. “Their story about … red tape, bureaucracy and backward work rules hits home and hurts. How many more good-paying jobs need to leave before we act on common-sense reforms? How many families can we save? When will we start lowering the cost to operate a business and own a home in Illinois?”
The Flaska family’s decision “resulted from policy mistakes that have made the Land of Lincoln a laggard state when it comes to forging well-paying manufacturing jobs,” Illinois Policy said. By moving, Hoist Liftruck escaped “punishingly high workers’ compensation costs and soaring property-tax bills.”
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