ILLINOIS ERECTS A “KEEP OUT” SIGN FOR JOBS

One-Party Rule. A Powerless Opposition. And a State Barreling Off a Cliff.

By Staff Writer | November 20, 2025

I. The Morning Illinois Lost Another Factory

On a cold November morning in Moline, a robotic welder dangled from a crane as if the shop itself were ejecting the machine. A flatbed with Kentucky plates idled below. Workers strapped it down in silence.

The owner finally muttered the new business slogan of Illinois:

“We didn’t leave Illinois. Illinois left us.”

The truck pulled away.
Another machine gone.
Another factory fading.
Another problem Springfield pretends isn’t happening.

II. A State Run by One Party — and Run Into the Ground

Illinois isn’t losing jobs by accident.
It’s losing them by legislation.

For more than a decade, Democrats have held absolute, unbreakable control of:

• the Governor’s office

• the House

• the Senate

• every statewide office

• every board that sets taxes, fees, and regulations

There is no check, no balance, no brake pedal — just an endless pipeline of new costs, new mandates, and new reasons for employers to run.

Meanwhile, the Illinois GOP is the weakest it’s been in modern history:

• fractured

• underfunded

• unable to block a single major bill

• functioning more like observers than an opposition party

In most states, the final budget is a negotiation.
In Illinois, it’s a monologue.

And businesses are the ones paying for it.

III. The Tax Package That Broke the Camel’s Back

This year’s tax changes weren’t tweaks.
They were a message.

A message that Illinois no longer cares if businesses stay.

What Democrats pushed through:

1. Higher corporate income taxes — on top of already high rates

While nearby states cut taxes to attract jobs, Illinois raised them.

2. End of 100% bonus depreciation

The federal government extended it to help companies recover.
Illinois decoupled.
Result:
Companies must now pay taxes on equipment they haven’t even used yet.

Indiana, Kentucky, and Wisconsin kept the write-off.
And they’re thanking us daily.

3. Stricter NOL caps

Hurts manufacturers the most.
Hurts startups the most.
Hurts capital investment the most.

4. Hidden fee increases and new compliance burdens

Even if a business breaks even, the state takes more.

5. Property tax spikes

A direct consequence of shrinking tax bases — which lawmakers caused.

When you add these up, you don’t get a business climate.
You get a warning label.

IV. A Legislature in a Bubble

Democratic lawmakers talk about “fairness,” “equity,” and “revenue stability.”
But outside the Capitol dome, companies talk about something else:

Survival.

The people writing the bills rarely tour factories.
They rarely speak to manufacturers.
Many don’t know the difference between gross receipts and net margin.
Yet they’re rewriting the rules for every employer in the state.

And the weak GOP?
They issue press releases.
They complain.
Then they get rolled.

Every. Single. Session.

V. When Government Stops Listening, Business Stops Staying

The results are everywhere:

• AeroRubber → Indiana

• Granite City steel processor → 180 layoffs

• G&D Integrated → insurance spike 38% after a liability bill

• Kankakee sheltered workshop → closed, 47 disabled workers out

• Thousands of small businesses → not headlines, just gone

And the big players left long ago.

Caterpillar.
Boeing.
Citadel.
All said the same thing:
Illinois became impossible to justify.

VI. The Highways Tell the Truth

Drive I-80 after dark.

Convoys of semis haul precision machines, injection molders, robotics, entire production lines — leaving.

A moving-company manager in Joliet told me:

“We’re basically a conveyor belt out of Illinois.
Companies call us before they call a realtor.”

While Democrats pass new taxes, other states run ads targeting Illinois CEOs:

• Indiana: “Lower taxes. Fewer headaches.”

• Missouri: “Escape From Illinois.”

• Texas: personal calls from Gov. Abbott

Illinois isn’t competing.
Illinois is bleeding.

VII. A State Out of Control

As one-party rule grows tighter, the consequences get louder:

• taxes rise

• regulations stack

• lawsuits multiply

• employers flee

• revenues fall

• property taxes climb

• residents leave

• deficits grow

• the cycle repeats

And with the GOP too weak to stop anything, every session looks the same:
more cost, less accountability.

Illinois doesn’t have policy disagreements.
It has policy autopilot — and the plane is pointed down.

VIII. The Sign No One Can Miss

Ask business owners what Illinois looks like from the outside, and they describe the same thing:

A giant neon sign at the border that reads:

KEEP OUT — COSTS RISING. NO RELIEF IN SIGHT.

Illinois may not have hung that sign intentionally.

But with one party pushing every lever, no opposition to hit the brakes, and no plan to stop the bleeding…

the sign is glowing all the same.

And every time a flatbed crosses the state line, another bulb flickers on.