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| Congressional Candidates Talk Jobs & Tax Breaks |
A term that's been getting a lot of attention lately in Illinois is getting notice by several of the candidates for Congress.
17th District Democratic candidates Cheri Bustos, Greg Aguilar, and George Gaulrapp participated in a discussion broadcast Thursday night on Quad Cities Public Television station WQPT and were asked in part about tax breaks for businesses.
Bustos -- a former journalist -- says tax breaks for corporations don't work, and she has a local example.
"We have Galesburg, Illinois. About 10 years ago, Maytag up and left, took with it 1,600 jobs," Bustos said. "And for that, they received $23 million in tax breaks. That's a messed up system. We've got to level the playing field."
Aguilar, who works at Augustana college, says there's a tax break still in effect that was supposed to be temporary, and that's wrong.
"We have tax breaks like the Active Finance exemption, that was supposed to be a temporary tax break for corporations that started off in 1997," Aguilar said. "That allowed for overseas profits [sic] to not have to pay American taxes. That was 1997. And, yet, they continue to extend it over and over again."
Freeport mayor George Gaulrapp says he doesn't have a problem with tax breaks, but he does with loopholes.
"One of the things we have to look at is tax code and tax code reform, where we close the loopholes and make sure there aren't any unfair advantages," Gaulrapp said. "The companies that have gone overseas and make all the profits, and aren't paying taxes upon those profits as they recirculate back in the United States."
The entire WQPT broadcast will be re-run Sunday evening at 5:30. The three are vying in the March 20th primary to unseat incumbent Bobby Schilling. |
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| 03 10 12 by Newsroom |
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