Quinn says he will consider business tax cut idea

CHICAGO (AP) - Gov. Pat Quinn says he hasn’t talked to Speaker Michael Madigan about a plan to cut Illinois’ corporate income tax rate in half.

The Democratic governor wouldn’t say Thursday whether he supported the idea.

Madigan - a Chicago Democrat like Quinn - proposed slicing the corporate tax rate from 7 percent to 3.5 percent to improve Illinois’ business climate. It came a day after Quinn proposed reducing filing fees for small businesses and adding a staff person to work with smaller operations.

Quinn will propose a budget for the upcoming year in March. He says, “We’ll look at everybody’s concepts.”

Advocates say the Madigan tax cut wouldn’t affect 75 percent of the state’s small businesses because they pay personal income tax.