As you already know, Gov. Pat Quinn is trying to snatch away a rail car manufacturer from Wisconsin after that state’s new governor rejected federal high-speed rail money. Well, Scott Kluth of CouponCabin.com has said recently that the so-called “Amazon Tax” passed by the General Assembly in a few days’ time could drive him out of Illinois…
Scott Kluth runs CouponCabin.com from an office in downtown Chicago. Some days, he says, he can see Indiana from the top of his company’s building.
Even though Friday was typically grey and frigid, the kind of weather for which the Second City is infamous, Indiana was looking brighter this morning than ever before.
That’s because Kluth says he faces the loss of up to a third of his business if Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signs into law a measure that would require online retailers such as Amazon.com and Overstock.com to collect taxes of 6.25% on web purchases made by state residents that came to those retail sites from Illinois-based web sites like CouponCabin.com. Consumers who visit the CouponCabin site can find digital coupons for discounts from such online retailers as Sears Holdings Corp., The Home Depot Inc. and Vistaprint, each of which is part of the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide. Because those retailers pay CouponCabin a commission when consumers make purchases with those coupons, they would be subject to the sales tax law, and likely would cut ties with CouponCabin rather than collect the levy from shoppers, Kluth says.
“Our only remedy would be moving out of state,” he says.
So, Wisconsin’s Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch left Kluth a voicemail message the other day inviting him to move to her state. Check it out…
LG Keelfisch is the person who ended up apologizing for some quite intemperate remarks she made during the recent campaign about gay marriage…
“This is a slippery slope in addition to that — at what point are we going to OK marrying inanimate objects? Can I marry this table, or this, you know, clock? Can we marry dogs? This is ridiculous.”
Something to consider when contemplating a move to the Cheese Head State. Then again, this proposed tax hike would, indeed drive Kluth out of business. He’d have to go somewhere else. Gov. Quinn needs to consider that when he decides what to do.
Perry on Thursday said he was troubled by the Illinois Legislature’s move to “tax the rich without talking about how to make the thoughtful prioritized decisions on how to govern.”
Tax the rich? Hey, Illinois just raised taxes on everybody, right down to the poorest of the poor.
Senate Republicans have already started their fight to repeal the income tax increase approved Wednesday morning, even though Gov. Pat Quinn hasn’t even signed it into law yet.
Sen. Matt Murphy, a Palatine Republican, said he filed legislation this morning to repeal a tax hike Quinn is expected to sign. It would increase the personal income tax rate to 5 percent and corporate income tax to 7 percent for the next four years.
