HowFastCanJimmyJohn'sLeaveIllinois?

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 19, 2011 9:40PM

Most individuals, it seems, are being reactive about the state income tax hike. But corporations headquartered in Illinois have been conspicuously quiet. Leave it to Jimmy John Liautaud, founder of the sandwich chain that bears his name, to break the silence. Jimmy John told the News-Gazette that he's already filed for residency in Florida and may recommend that his company move its corporate headquarters out of Illinois, as well. Bitching about your taxes, like the smells Jimmy John's franchises advertise in bright red neon, is free.

In explaining why he's angry about the income tax hike, Liautaud shows the gift for thinking that led him to graduate second to last in his class from Elgin Academy.This quote is worthy of a Tea Partier, folks. It's like we live in two different Lands of Lincoln.

"All they do is stick it to us," he said, adding that the Legislature and governor showed "a clear lack of understanding."

Florida has a flat corporate income tax rate of five percent, certainly lower than the 7.3 percent Jimmy John's was taxed pre-hike and the 9.5 percent that is now in effect. Liautaud said that he's received offers to relocate the company's corporate headquarters from Champaign by "multiple pro-business states" that made him feel "wanted and important." He said he's currently gathering information on states that may be more attractive to the company from an income tax standpoint to present to his board of directors, who will then look at it and, hopefully, remove emotions from any decision regarding uprooting.

"I enjoy being courted and the process," he told the News-Gazette. regardless of what the Company's Board of Directors decides, Liautaud said that he and his family are "out of here."

Thatfast.