admin
The latest insult to Illinois pride is hardly subtle: Do It Best Group announced it will move True Value’s headquarters from Chicago to Fort Wayne, Indiana. This is not a lonely act of corporate wanderlust. It’s the newest example in a steady stream of companies and organizations deciding Illinois is simply too costly, too risky, and too hostile to business to stay.
Another headquarters bolts — and the pattern is obvious
True Value’s move follows a list of high-profile exits that reads like a map of firms fed up with Illinois: big manufacturers, financial firms, even sports franchises have looked for friendlier ground. The Chicago Bears advancing a new stadium project in Hammond, Indiana, signals the same thing in plain sight. Businesses aren’t fleeing because of bad headlines — they’re fleeing because of high taxes, heavy regulations, and public-safety issues that raise costs and hurt employees and customers.
What this means for jobs and taxpayers
When a headquarters leaves, it takes more than conference rooms and office furniture. It takes payroll, middle-class jobs, and taxable income out of the state. That shrinks the tax base and forces the folks left behind to pay more, or watch services shrink. Even after Governor JB Pritzker once dismissed Indiana as a “low-wage state,” companies keep voting with their feet and choosing lower-cost, lower-tax alternatives.
Republican lawmakers have pushed measures like Senate Bill 3786 — a legacy tax credit aimed at keeping headquartered businesses in Illinois — but the Democratic-led Senate has let that kind of common-sense relief stall. If Springfield wants to stop the hemorrhage, it should stop lecturing and start legislating: cut burdensome taxes, roll back needless regulations, and make public safety a priority so workers and customers feel secure.
Illinois can still recover its swagger, but not with the same recipes that drove companies away. Voters who care about jobs and the middle class should remember who blocked change. If Springfield keeps punishing success, more headquarters will follow True Value and the Bears out the door — and no amount of political spin will pay the bills left behind.
