Lame! Like taxes are the ONLY factor!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01 ... e-jobs-to-new-jersey.html


Christie Says He'll Lure Jobs From Illinois to New Jersey on Lower Taxes
By Henry Goldman - Jan 25, 2011
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said he intends to go to Illinois next week to lure jobs from business executives angered about personal income and corporate tax increases enacted this month.

The trip coincides with advertisements that his administration began running today in publications including the Chicago Tribune and the State Journal-Register of Springfield, the state capital, encouraging businesses to relocate and invest in New Jersey, Christie said. The ads cost $300,000, said Kevin Roberts, a Christie spokesman.

The first-term Republican said he sees opportunity in Illinois Governor Pat Quinn?s decision to increase the income tax to 5 percent from 3 percent and corporate taxes to 7 percent from 4.8 percent to help reduce a deficit of at least $13 billion in a budget of about $37 billion.

?If he wants to tank his economy, that?s just fine,? Christie, 48, said in an interview at Bloomberg headquarters in New York today. ?I?ll go and try to collect as many businesses as I can, and every job that I create, that I take from Illinois, which comes to New Jersey, will be a net plus for us.?

Quinn, 62, a Democrat elected Nov. 2, supported the state?s record income-tax increase, saying it would help resolve a crisis that had the state ?careening toward bankruptcy and fiscal insolvency.?

?Land of Lincoln?

Quinn said at a news conference today that Christie, who has said he won?t raise taxes to balance his state?s budget, ?was advertising before Nov. 2 for my opponent and nobody listened to him then. And I don?t know why anybody would listen to him. We don?t need some guy from Jersey telling us how to do things in the Land of Lincoln.?

New Jersey?s state and local tax burden ranked first in the nation while Illinois ranked 30th in a 2008 survey by the Tax Foundation, a privately funded research and advocacy organization in Washington.

Illinois?s corporate tax increase would move it into fourth place from 21st among U.S. states in overall business taxes, the foundation said.

?The steps we?ve taken are going to be good for business,? said Brie Callahan, Quinn?s spokeswoman, in a phone interview. ?We have businesses that are moving here because of our investments in infrastructure and our commitment to improving our schools.?

?Bait and Switch?

Callahan cited Evraz Inc. NA, a steel manufacturer that said this month it would move its headquarters to Chicago from Portland, Oregon, in June, employing at least 70 people at the location.

Christie characterized Quinn?s move to raise taxes as a ?typical bait and switch? after the Illinois governor campaigned saying ?he might raise taxes about half as much as he wound up doing.?

Christie said Quinn did it because ?he got in bed with the public-sector unions in order to win election by half a point.?

The actions by Quinn and the Illinois Legislature amount to ?crass politics,? Christie said. ?I?ll be going out to Illinois personally next week to have some meetings and try to personally lure some people out.?

New Jersey?s graduated income tax rates are higher than Illinois?s new 5 percent rate, with levies of 5.525 percent on earnings between $40,000 and $75,000; 6.37 percent between $75,000 and $500,000, and 8.97 percent for incomes above $500,000, according to the state treasurer?s office.

Wisconsin Beckons

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, a Republican, issued a Jan. 13 statement urging Illinois companies to come north.

?Years ago, Wisconsin had a tourism advertising campaign targeted to Illinois with the motto, ?Escape to Wisconsin,?? Walker said. ?Today we renew that call to Illinois businesses. ?Escape to Wisconsin.? You are welcome here.?

Investors reacted favorably to Illinois?s move to increase revenue.

?There are some actions being taken,? Bill Gross, who runs the world?s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co. in Newport Beach, California, said in a Jan. 12 Bloomberg TV interview with Margaret Brennan. ?Illinois -- hooray!?

Chris Mier, chief municipal strategist with Loop Capital Markets LLC in Chicago, called it ?a serious and successful effort to address this problem in a way that?s material and has an immediate influence.?

Standard & Poor?s today removed Illinois?s general- obligation bonds from its ?CreditWatch? category for securities whose ratings may change within 90 days.

?The CreditWatch removal reflects our view of the state?s recently enacted legislation that provides for structural budget solutions,? an S&P analyst, Robin Prunty, said in a release.

To contact the reporters on this story: Henry Goldman in New York at hgoldman@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net.