Caterpillar, Inc. Contemplating Leaving Illinois

By Soyoung Kwak in News on Mar 26, 2011 5:45PM

Although no big businesses have left our dear state of Illinois quite yet, that all might change in the near future. Heavy machinery giant Caterpillar, Inc. has been thinking about uprooting from its headquarters in Peoria, Illinois and seeking a home base elsewhere.

As a step to confront the situation at hand, the chief executive officer of Caterpillar, Doug Oberhelman, wrote a letter to Pat Quinn which mentioned the possibility of Caterpillar moving on "because of concerns that the direction the state is heading isn't favorable to business." Additionally, the representative from Caterpillar noted that several other states (including Texas, South Dakota, and Nebraska) have approached the company about moving across state lines and pursuing business outside of Illinois from the time Gov. Quinn raised taxes in January.

In the memo to Gov. Quinn, Oberhelman stresses that the company hadn't even thought about relocating until it faced the realities of Quinn's tax hike. Oberhelman indicates that he is willing to work with Quinn in reaching an agreeable solution to the problem at hand: "I want to stay here. But as the leader of this business, I have to do what's right for Caterpillar when making decisions about where to invest," Oberhelman wrote. "The direction that this state is headed in is not favorable to business, and I'd like to work with you to change that."

The letter from Oberhelman to Quinn places the tax increase debate in clear perspectives. The threat of businesses leaving Illinois is a definite possibility, and we hope that businesses and the state figure out a way for businesses to thrive in Illinois.