Prairie State Wire

Jim Dodge thinks Illinois lawmakers are taking the wrong approach to the state's small business owners.

“It should be easier to do business in Illinois than what it is,” Dodge told the Prairie State Wire. “Small business owners are a hugely important part of the economy and we should be doing everything we can to spur more innovation from them.”

With the first week of May marking National Small Business Appreciation Week, Dodge, an Orland Park Republican running for state treasurer, said he felt compelled to speak out on behalf of what he sees as one of the state’s most critical lifelines.

Jim Dodge

Small Business Week organizers insist their mission is to make clear the need to have legislators and policies that are working for that community as opposed to making it more difficult for them to survive.

“The government needs to be smaller, faster and more cost-effective,” Dodge said. “The future does not look good for the state if we don’t make the kinds of structural changes that are so clearly needed. I fear the traffic jam we could have of people heading for the exits out of town if we don’t get this right.”

Dodge said the turnaround should start with lawmakers reducing licensing fees and regulation guidelines with the aim being to reduce the massive tax burden now placed on small business owners.   

“The main hindrance they face is all the bureaucratic red tape and the growing tax load,” he said, adding that none of that figures to change anytime soon if voters don’t stand up and demand the changes.  

“We will know in November how things might turn out,” he said of the state’s general election. “I’ve said all along, this is a right track, wrong traffic election and this election is as critical as any we’ve had in a while.”