Lake County Gazette

As another company announces it will be moving out of Illinois, state Rep. Chris Bos (R-Lake Zurich) believes the State needs to do more to keep businesses in the Prairie State and allow room for growth.

Billionaire Ken Griffin was once the wealthiest person living in Illinois, but he recently announced he's moved to Florida and taken the Citadel company with him, a report from MarketWatch said. 

"Chicago will continue to be important to the future of Citadel, as many of our colleagues have deep ties to Illinois," Griffin told employees in a letter, quoted by MarketWatch. "Over the past year, however, many of our Chicago teams have asked to relocate to Miami, New York and our other offices around the world."

Construction equipment manufacturing company Caterpillar recently announced it would be relocating its headquarters from Deerfield, Ill., to Irving, Texas; a press release from the company said.

"We believe it's in the best strategic interest of the company to make this move, which supports Caterpillar's strategy for profitable growth as we help our customers build a better, more sustainable world," Jim Umpleby, Caterpillar chairman and CEO, said in the release.

Bos believes their decision to move the company's headquarters will have an impact on the state's economy.

"Caterpillar's decision to move its headquarters to Texas is another major loss for Illinois," he said in a recent Facebook post. "We have to make our state the best place to do business to keep jobs here and grow opportunities for Illinois families."

In May, Boeing announced that it too was moving its headquarters out of Chicago and to a suburb of Washington, D.C., an NBC Chicago report said. Dave Calhoun, Boeing president and CEO, said in a statement that Northern Virginia "makes strategic sense" for the company's global headquarters.

A survey by Chief Executive magazine of approximately 700 business owners ranked Illinois 48th overall, among the three worst states in the nation to do business, The Center Square reported recently.

Ted Dabrowski, Wirepoints president, told The Center Square that the state's corruption, high taxes, debts and vast amount of regulations are a deterrent for businesses.