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In
the past few weeks, you may have seen a number of
communications from me about the proposed gross receipts tax.
You may also have seen action by or through your local chamber
on this issue: local chambers adopting policy position
statements, holding member forums on the subject, providing
media outreach on the potential impact of a gross receipts tax
on business owners in your community.
While this topic
and our responses to it may have been more evident to you
through newspaper articles, opinion columns, radio interviews,
and our special GRT web site, www.largesttaxincreaseevercom,
I want to pause for a moment to remind you this is what the
Illinois Chamber of Commerce does for you every day, every
legislative session, every issue. Although the GRT is getting
wall-to-wall media coverage, your Chamber staff applies the
same effort and expertise to workers’ compensation, civil
justice reform, infrastructure and transportation, healthcare,
economic development and grassroots activism on a regular
basis, but with less media fanfare.
This is what your
membership pays for; if we didn’t have the expertise and
response processes already in place for our routine advocacy
work, we could not have been in the position to take such a
leading role in responding to the proposed GRT. On behalf of
our staff, I appreciate your responses in the form of
grassroots action, local level involvement, and financial
contributions for this campaign; but I want you to be assured
this kind of effort on your behalf represents what we do
consistently.
Here is a chronology of activities we’ve
undertaken in the last few weeks to challenge the proposed
gross receipts tax:
- Chamber’s Tax Institute prepared background white paper
in anticipation of the Governor’s initiative. Tax Institute
members and staff remain the premiere source for
intellectual debate and primary source of knowledge,
analysis and interpretation of the tax proposal and changes.
The Chamber is the primary source for detailed bill
analysis.
- Chamber Board of Directors approved a policy statement
in opposition to a gross receipts tax.
- Illinois Chamber policy statement was circulated to all
local chambers of commerce with a plea for similar
consideration by their boards and active engagement of their
members.
- President Whitley authored President’s Messages to
members to focus attention and provide information about
gross receipts tax plans and developments.
- Organized and participated in press conference response
from several representative business organizations
immediately following the Governor’s budget message.
- President Whitley has met with newspapers’ editorial
boards and continues to do so.
- President Whitley media outreach includes daily response
to reporter inquiries, authoring opinion page columns, live
radio interviews and ready availability for comment and
response.
- Chamber staff worked with local chambers and NFIB to
launch a series of local press conferences to focus
attention on business opposition: Quincy, Bloomington,
Rockford, Decatur, Peoria, Champaign, Danville, etc.
- President Whitley authored President’s Message on Action
Items to chamber members, local chambers and other statewide
and regional organizations.
- Illinois Chamber launched a special web site:
largesttaxincreaseever.com
- Chamber staff communicates with other business
organizations and professional government affairs
representatives about on-going gross receipts tax activities
through the weekly Springfield meeting of BIFEC (Business
and Industry for Economic Concern)
- Chamber participation with the Illinois Coalition for
Jobs, Growth and Prosperity launched TV advertising campaign
to counter Governor Blagojevich’s TV ads to promote his
program
- Chamber is active participant and director in the
Illinois Jobs Coalition’s media and outreach campaigns. The
Chamber believes cooperative and coordinated response among
all business groups and individual companies is the most
effective approach
- Chamber staff is organizing “Backyard Campaigns” to
bring community-level attention in legislators’ districts to
negative affects of the gross receipts tax. This includes
community and media events as well as business owners
meeting in face-to-face sessions with legislators.
- Chamber staff engaging in broad-based outreach to
encourage members to contact legislators and to encourage
business owners and managers who are not Illinois Chamber
members to contact legislators.
- Chamber staff is organizing an Anti-GRT Lobby Day for
Springfield on Wednesday, April 18
- Chamber’s weekly legislative update conference calls for
members of the Chamber’s government affairs committee now
include chamber members who were not previously on this
committee in order to satisfy their interest in keeping up
on GRT activities.
- Routinely communicating with members and non-members to
keep them informed and engaged in the evolving policy debate
for both public opinion and legislators’ opinions.
- Building and maintaining grassroots outreach to
employers to engage in contacts to legislators
- Tracking and coordinating opposition outreach efforts
from local chambers, other business organizations, media
response such as editorials and blog communications
- Chamber staff is responding to requests to appear and
speak to audiences regarding the GRT
- Chamber has requested various trade organizations
prepare materials to help explain the impact a GRT on the
prices of numerous consumer purchases
- Chamber has engaged and encouraged local business owners
and managers to write responsive letters to the
editor
While the gross receipts tax challenge
will be a top priority during the remaining weeks of the
Illinois General Assembly’s spring 2007 session we remind
Chamber members there are other important legislative issues
of concern to Illinois employers. Your awareness,
participation and financial support of the Illinois Chamber is
critical to the effort to make Illinois a better place to live
and do business. Thank you for your assistance.
I urge
you to forward this email or send a letter to other business
owners and associates whom you know are concerned about the
state’s business climate, but who may not currently be a
contributing member of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. I ask
you to be an ambassador for the Illinois Chamber’s proactive
agenda by encouraging others to join the Illinois Chamber. As
the preceding list illustrates, the Chamber is doing
outstanding work that should make it easy for you to
demonstrate that financing the Illinois Chamber is a good
investment. The Illinois Chamber’s continued success depends
on recruiting more supporters to the cause of promoting a
better business climate and job creation for Illinois. Again,
thanks for your support and help. |
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