Sen. John Curran | Facebook
Sen. John Curran | Facebook
Sen. John Curran (R-Lemont) recently took to Facebook to draw attention to National Small Business Week.
"Small businesses really are the engine that drives Illinois. During Small Business Week and every week, let's do our part to support these economy-boosting, job-creating, businesses!" Curran posted.
Small businesses in Illinois make up 99.6% of private enterprise of the state, but the economy is growing at a very slow rate, according to Business News Daily. In fact, when the national growth rate of the economy has been 3.4%, Illinois has grown only by 2.1%.
"The state of Illinois faces a gargantuan pension liability of more than $200 billion," said Jim Collins, Datamation co-founder and president. "This lack of fiscal management breeds concern among small business, and it is likely that the state will need to cut key functions and services."
Illinois Policy reported that as of March 2021 – a year into Gov. Pritzker's mandated COVID lockdowns – 35% of Illinois small businesses had been forced to close, which is the eighth-highest number in the nation.
"The taxation situation in our state is extremely disappointing," said Justin Carrol, president of Perfect Home Services, as reported by Business News Daily. "Statistics show that people are fleeing from Illinois, and I believe taxation is a large contributor to that. We're one of the highest-taxed states in the country and our state is still broke. I pray that someone will come in and get this state turned around soon."
At the start of 2022, less than one-third of Illinois' small businesses reported going back to their pre-pandemic revenue, according to Advantage News. "What this does tell us overall is that Illinois is slower to recover than many other states in the country," said Alignable head of research Chuck Casto.
National Small Business Week has been marked every year for more than 50 years, according to the Small Business Association (SBA). The SBA aims to recognize the vital role that entrepreneurs and small business owners play in the U.S.
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