Illinois businesses are fighting legislation that would force them to disclose key financial information.
Senate President John Cullerton wants corporations to make public their base income and how much they pay in state taxes. After the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Sears threatened to leave the state last year unless they got tax breaks, Illinois gave them deals worth millions of dollars. Cullerton says when the legislature is asked to make those kinds of decisions, it's important tax records are public: "Think about the C-M-E bill we debated. They disclosed voluntarily what their taxes are and what they would be after we passed our bill. That was very helpful in determining the public policy of whether or not we should change the way that they were taxed."
But the Illinois Chamber of Commerce says businesses would not want to disclose that information and it would create a bad business climate in the state. Despite that opposition, a Senate Committee approved the he proposal Wednesday.
Senate Committee Passes Financial Disclosure Bill
