My brothers, brother in law (you got that? ha ha) moved his business from Illinois about 4 years ago now. The straw that broke the camel back was the fact that the state was going to increase his business tax by about 35k a year. That is a chunk of change for a business that did about $250k in business a year.
So they moved to Arizona, Phoenix area. Not only did he manage to keep that 35k, he saved an additional 40k a year in lower taxes. Their insurance and other col are lower as well. I believe they are now a 400k a year business. They (he and his wife) love living in Arizona and they love their way nicer house that they have there. They aren't being harassed by the town they operate (like they were in Illinois) in either. They even have time for recreation now too.
Says he wishes they had made the move way earlier.
Illinois forgets that few businesses need the location that they offer. That's what I hear from government types all the time in Illinois "we have the location that they don't have". So lame. I can think of 30 businesses here in NW Indiana that moved across the border in the last 5 years alone. Most started to grow in ways that are impossible to do in Illinois.
