Senate Bill 09 Opposition Instructions

January 31, 2017

Congratulations Home Builders, Remodelers, Developers, and Associates! Last week, well over 200 of you used VoterVoice to write to your Illinois State Senator telling them to Oppose SB09, a bill which:

Raises Corporate Income Taxes to 7%, Individual Taxes to 4.99%;
Imposes a new 5% Excise Tax on the total cost of Residential Repair & Maintenance Work; and,
Imposes a new “Business Opportunity Tax” which taxes Business Owners based on the size of their payroll.

Senators are back in their districts this week which means you, your employees, and your business associates now need to take this opportunity to call them in their district offices and personally voice our opposition to SB09.

Senate Democrat and Republican leaders are taking a hard count on whether they have the votes to move this bill next week to the Illinois House of Representatives. And, they are willing to do so without allowance for public scrutiny or proper use of the public hearing process. If we let off the gas now, we will be taxed at the highest levels ever in the history of the State of Illinois. We must do more to save our industry!

Below is a list of every State Senator in Illinois, along with their party affiliation, district number, their municipality, and their district phone number. Find the Senators in your area and call them. If you need assistance, call or write Bill Ward at (800)255-6047 or billward@hbai.org, and he will assist in finding your Senator and area Senators.

Choose your talking points from the ones below or state your opposition in your own words.

SB09 raises two existing taxes, imposes two new taxes, and imposes one new fee on my industry (Corporate & Individual Income Tax; Business Opportunity Tax; Repair & Maintenance Service Tax; and, $75 annual registration fee to the Dept. of Revenue to handle these new taxes).
The Excise Tax is a 5% service on the total cost of home repair and maintenance. Those on fixed & lower incomes will leave their homes in disrepair.
Payment of the Excise Tax is complicated and cannot be explained even by its proponents. Don’t vote for this now and read it later!
The Excise Tax is narrowly-based and applies to just five small sectors of our state’s economy. This is by design to allow for easy passage with minor political fall-out. The result will be a minor return on new revenues but incredible hardship on those sectors that are low-hanging fruit for “Tax First” legislators.
The Grand Bargain has no real benefits for Illinois workers and business owners. Real job creation and business incentives are not to be found in the Grand Bargain.
The “Business Opportunity Tax” is a disincentive to hire workers and increase payroll. I will consider the imposition of this tax greatly prior to hiring more workers or increasing pay levels of current employees.
Don’t Tax – Incentivize! Create a home repair and maintenance tax credit that will raise many more dollars from sales and withholding taxes. This will raise revenues and make our neighborhoods beautiful!
Go back to the drawing board and consider tax policies that are broad-based and fair to all citizens of Illinois.
The Home Builders Association of Illinois is opposed to SB09 and the current “Grand Bargain.” Please Vote No on SB09. Your concern for our industry is greatly appreciated.

Don’t Be Grand, Just Get Real!