(The Center Square) – Cook County has joined the state of Illinois in offering tax breaks to tech manufacturers.
The Class 8 MICRO incentive builds on the state’s MICRO Act, signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker in 2022, which provides up to 100% in income tax breaks for facilities in underserved areas.
Properties benefiting from Cook County’s incentive will receive a reduced property tax rate of 10% for 30 years, instead of the standard 25% rate.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle explained why the county is offering tax breaks to manufacturers of semiconductors, microchips and associated components.
“Tens of billions of dollars in economic impact is likely,” Preckwinkle said.
The county board president expressed hope that the tax breaks will lure more businesses.
“Beyond job creation, we hope that the project will attract lots of additional investment, not just on the site, but in surrounding communities to support the activities on the site,” Preckwinkle suggested.
One planned beneficiary of the incentive is the planned Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park on Chicago’s Southeast Side.
Republican Cook County Clerk candidate Michelle Pennington provided The Center Square with a statement supporting the tax initiative.
“The New Class 8 MICRO Tax Incentive is exactly what Cook County needs. It positions Cook County nationally as a hub for quantum technology and brings much needed investment dollars to the area,” Pennington said.
State, county and city governments offered PsiQuantum a combined incentive package worth more than $500 million over 30 years to anchor the former U.S. Steel South Works site, according to a statement from the quantum computing company. Officials said they hope to have the facility up and running in 2027.
Wirepoints Executive Editor Mark Glennon told The Center Square last month that the PsiQuantum project, which Pritzker announced in July, is very speculative.
“It only directly creates some 75 jobs for that particular company. Now, (Governor) Pritzker thinks that that’s going to spark creation of a whole park based around quantum computing there in that Southeast Side project, but that remains to be determined,” Glennon said.
While state, county and city governments offer incentives to certain businesses, Cook County homeowners are not seeing relief.
According to data from the Cook County Treasurer’s office, the median south suburban residential property tax bill increased nearly 20% this year.
The state of Illinois imposes the second-highest property taxes in the nation.
Cook County Board President Preckwinkle said she formed the Cook County Property Tax Reform Group in 2021 to address systemic problems with the tax system.
“We know that it can’t be fixed overnight or in a vacuum. That’s why we brought all of the actors together in the Property Tax Reform Group, that is, the assessor, the Board of Review, the treasurer and the clerk,” Preckwinkle said.
Cook County Director of Property Tax Policy Jim Thompson said the group is looking at property tax relief beyond just expanding exemptions.
“Those exemptions actually have differing effects and create difficulties within different taxing districts have been disinvested in the south suburbs,” Thompson said.
Preckwinkle and Thompson spoke at a virtual media event after the county board approved the Class 8 MICRO incentive.
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Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison said the program would generate billions.
“I was pleased to support this rare and succinct Class 8 Micro Tax Incentive. It is directed and limited in scope to this particular and highly unique project. The project most likely would not have moved forward had not it been for Cook County providing this incentive,” he said in a statement. “This project will utilize and re-purpose land that has been otherwise unused over the last 2+ decades. It will create billions of dollars of subsequent infrastructure and support to the regional economy. “