East Central Reporter

Rep. Chris Miller (R-Robinson) says "bad public policy" and taxes have led to businesses leaving Illinois.

"This is a direct result of bad public policy, and businesses are not in business to deal with that, but the state of Illinois hasn’t been able to figure that out. Our taxes are out of control and the state has become extremely hostile for businesses hoping to survive," Miller said in an interview.

Billionaire Ken Griffin, formerly the wealthiest Illinois resident, recently announced that he has moved to Florida, and he's taking hedge fund giant Citadel and Citadel Securities with him, Market Watch reported. "Chicago will continue to be important to the future of Citadel, as many of our colleagues have deep ties to Illinois," Griffin wrote in a letter to employees. "Over the past year, however, many of our Chicago teams have asked to relocate to Miami, New York and our other offices around the world." 

Griffin is among the 50 wealthiest people in the world, with an estimated worth of $28.9 billion. His announcement is the third in the last two months of major companies pulling their headquarters out of Illinois. Citadel officials said crime was a factor in Griffin's decision.

Caterpillar announced on June 14 that it is going to relocate its headquarters from Deerfield, Illinois, to Irving, Texas, according to a press release. "We believe it's in the best strategic interest of the company to make this move, which supports Caterpillar's strategy for profitable growth as we help our customers build a better, more sustainable world," said Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby.

Boeing announced in May that it is relocating its headquarters from Chicago to a suburb of Washington, D.C., NBC Chicago reported. "We are excited to build on our foundation here in Northern Virginia," Boeing President and Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun said in a statement. "The region makes strategic sense for our global headquarters given its proximity to our customers and stakeholders, and its access to world-class engineering and technical talent."

Chief Executive magazine conducted a survey of around 700 business owners from every state and ranked Illinois 48th overall, meaning it is the third-worst state in the country for business, The Center Square reported. Only California and New York were ranked worse than Illinois. Texas, Florida, and Tennessee were ranked as the top states for doing business. 

"We’re too corrupt. Our taxes are way too high. We have way too many regulations and we have massive debts, and that is plenty of reason enough for companies to not want to locate in Illinois, not to mention the state is shrinking in population so it's not a growth state to put your business in,” said Wirepoints president Ted Dabrowski.