Illinois lawmakers fight to keep CME in Chicago

Will they stay or will they go?

Illinois lawmakers are fighting to keep the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s in the Windy City, just a week after executives had meetings in Indiana.

Thursday night Illinois legislators were able to reach a deal to offer the state’s corporate residents a reduced income tax and other incentives. Lawmakers will vote on the deal in a week. However, the CME Group has not commented on their plan.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard met with CME Group officials last Friday for about an hour. He said the latest move in Illinois is not a surprise.


“We knew that Illinois state legislature would do something to try to keep them in there,” said Ballard.

Fox 59 spoke with state economic development officials Friday who said what Illinois is doing does not change how Indiana will recruit. In addition to conditional tax credits (these are performance-based and no-risk; no jobs, no incentives), Governor Daniels has focused on the following major initiatives since 2005 aimed at improving Indiana’s competitiveness:

•    Major Moves: Ten-year, fully funded highway plan that includes more than 200 new construction and 200 major preservation projects.

•    Telecommunications Reform: Indiana’s Telecommunications Deregulation Act has brought increased competition, leading to new investments and jobs.  

•    Corporate Income Tax Reduction: HB 1004 will reduce Indiana’s corporate income tax from 8.5% to 6.5%. The tax will be reduced by 0.5% per year over the next four years.

•    Property Tax Relief: Cut property taxes by 1/3 and established a constitutional cap on tax rates for all classes of property.

•    R&D Tax Credit: Provides a tax credit equal to 15% of a company’s first $1 million of qualifying R&D expenditures, giving Indiana one of the highest R&D tax credit percentages in the country.

•    Venture Capital Investment (VCI) Tax Credit: In 2011, Indiana doubled (from $500,000 to $1 million) the maximum amount of tax credits for new ventures.

•    Patent Income Exemption: Exempts certain income derived from qualified patents from the calculation of a company’s tax liability.

•    Buy Indiana: Pumps up to $1.9 billion back into the Indiana economy by directing state agencies to purchase goods from Indiana businesses.

Mayor Ballard said he is still hopeful, “I believe they were serious. If they stay there they, stay there. But in the bigger scheme of things, in the bigger picture, the name of Indianapolis was out there as a real player and I think that's a plus.”