 The Chamber coordinated with other stakeholders to gather a coalition of 42 business organizations, including more than 30 chambers of commerce throughout the state, to oppose the Progressive Income Tax Amendment through grassroots mobilization.
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 The Chamber worked with a vendor to develop ChambersAgainstTax.com, a landing page for Progressive Income Tax information that includes resources, videos, and links to get involved. The Chamber also worked with partners to develop more than 20 personalized landing pages for local chambers. Chamber staff created and uploaded all information and provided social media content for all local chamber partners.
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"Business groups, namely the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business' Illinois Chapter blanketed the state with messaging that the change meant kicking small businesses when they were down."
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 The Chamber teamed up with the Coalition to Stop the Proposed Tax Hike Amendment on a tens of millions of dollars statewide media campaign featuring Illinois Chamber President and CEO Todd Maisch. The Chamber helped promote the digital portion of the campaign that also included television, mail and other outreach.
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"Opposition, led in large part by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, has centered on what the tax would do to businesses and what lawmakers might do in the future if voters give them the opportunity to levy taxes on portions of the electorate at any one time, rather than on every taxpayer at once."
 --Herald & Review
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 The Chamber led an aggressive digital advertising campaign to key voters leading up to the election targeting different demographics and locations through the Chambers Against the Progressive Tax PAC. The campaign totaled over 4.4 million digital ad impressions from Facebook, Instagram, Google and programmatic ads.
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Progressive Income Tax Video Series
 Over the last two years, the Chamber produced the Progressive Income Tax (PIT) video series to help inform legislators, stakeholders and the public on the negative impact a progressive income tax could have on Illinois families. The videos currently have around 30,000 views on YouTube.
The Illinois Chamber has been mentioned or interviewed over 100 times in election and Progressive Income Tax coverage over the last two years, including over 50 news stories on the income tax amendment leading up to and following the Election Day victory.
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MAISCH DISCUSSES COVID-19 IMPACT
ON ILLINOIS UNEMPLOYMENT
Illinois Chamber President and CEO Todd Maisch was interviewed about COVID-19 related unemployment by Tessa Bentulan on News Channel 20 in September.
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"J.B. Pritzker says the tax would generate over $3 billion dollars in new annual revenue, but Todd Maisch, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, disagrees, saying people will flee the state with their money."
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CHAMBER SUPPORTS GOVERNOR IN FIGHTING ENERGY CORRUPTION
 Illinois Chamber President and CEO released a statement applauding Gov. Pritzker for standing up for Illinois against corruption with an energy plan that did not offer big bailouts to individual producers.
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CHICAGO SUN-TIMES OP-ED ON PROGRESSIVE INCOME TAX
Illinois Chamber President and CEO Todd Maisch discussed why Illinois should learn from the mistakes of New York in a Chicago Sun-Times op-ed.
Read full story here.
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"The potential hole in aggregate demand may be large, and, in my view, more fiscal relief is needed in order to limit further damage to households and businesses, especially those in vulnerable communities."
--President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Charles Evans
on COVID-19 at the Chamber Annual Meeting
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ILLINOIS CHAMBER'S FIRST VIRTUAL ANNUAL MEETING
 Along with all organizations, the Chamber is navigating through COVID-19 challenges, and with the support of its members and sponsors, held its first ever Virtual Annual Meeting on September 24.
CEO of Illinois Market at Commerce Bank and Chamber Board Chair Brent Eichelberger (at left) gave the welcome address to kick off the event.
 President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Charles Evans (at right) gave the keynote address 'Economic Development in Distressed Communities' that included information on how the economy is doing during the pandemic and how it is affecting businesses in Illinois.
 Wintrust Vice President of Community Affairs and Chamber  International Business Council Co-Chair Susana Meza (at left) interviewed Wintrust President Timothy S. Crane (at right) on how businesses are coping with and recovering from the pandemic.
 Next, Meza spoke with Chairman of the Chicago Cubs Tom Ricketts (at left) on how his organization is working through COVID-19 challenges and then moderated a panel discussion with Crane and Ricketts.
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"A graduated income tax punishes the successful by taxing a greater percentage of their income."
--Keith Staats at a debate in St. Charles
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INSIGHT ON ILLINOIS PROPERTY TAX LAW
Executive Director of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce Tax Institute Keith Staats' column on the property tax law in Illinois was published in the Fall Edition of Illinois CPA Society's Insight magazine.
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"The progressive income tax amendment is simply a big bag of cash dropped at the door of the State Capitol to spend however it wants."
--Todd Maisch in the India Post
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KAERICHER JOINS REP. BENNETT IN TOWN HALL
 Chamber's VP of Legislative Affairs Clark Kaericher sat down with Illinois State Representative Tom Bennett to discuss business issues in Illinois, including the effects of COVID-19 and the pending progressive income tax amendment ballot initiative.
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TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE HELD ON OCTOBER 15
The Chamber had a wonderful panel that featured Assistant Republican Leader, and spokesperson of the Cybersecurity, Data Analytics & IT Committee Rep. Keith Wheeler (below right) leading BIPA attorney at Shook, Hardy & Bacon Melissa Siebert and US Chamber experts Lana Skelo and Jordan Crenshaw and Executive Director of the Chamber Technology and Innovation Council Clark Kaericher (below left) at the Technology Conference on October 15.
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WCIA PROGRESSIVE INCOME TAX DEBATE
 Illinois Chamber President and CEO Todd Maisch participated in an eight-person panel of elected officials and community leaders in the Capitol Connection debate on the progressive income tax hosted by WCIA Bureau Chief Mark Maxwell on WCIA.
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WOMEN IN BUSINESS CONFERENCE
GOES VIRTUAL ON NOVEMBER 13
The Third Annual Illinois Chamber Women in Business Conference went virtual this year. Elaine Hand fired up the group as the opening speaker, discussing Communications Among Generations. She was followed by Cheryl McKinney, a vice president for BP Fuels, North America, who continued the conversation with her thoughts on Moving up in a Man's World.
Kim Brown, a speaker, author and consultant with Centrally Human, closed the live session with an encouraging innovation and goal setting. The pre-recorded panel discussions included Being a Woman and an Entrepreneur, Making Work Life Balance a Reality, and What You Don't Know Can Hurt you.
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CHAMBER OPPOSES RETENTION OF SUPREME
COURT JUSTICE
 The Illinois Chamber of Commerce PAC was the only business group to publicly call for the non-retention of Illinois Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride, due to his aggressive anti-business, one-sided approach to judicial rulings. Kilbride became the first Illinois Supreme Court Justice to ever not be retained and the seat will go to a General Election in 2022 giving the GOP the opportunity to flip the court 4-3.
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CHAMBER SUPPORTS SUCCESSFUL ILLINOIS JUSTICE WIN
 The Illinois Chamber PAC has been the largest financial support of Illinois Supreme Court Elect Justice Overstreet, donating $10,000 to his appellate court race in 2018, and $10,000 to his Illinois Supreme Court Justice race in 2020.
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"It is our job to educate our members on the record of their representatives
and hold them accountable for it."
--Clark Kaericher on the Chamber's Legislative Ratings
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LEGISLATIVE RATINGS FOR 2019-2020 RELEASED
 The Illinois Chamber released their 2019 -2020 Legislative Rating based on legislators' votes on the key business legislation of the 101st General Assembly as determined by staff and the Illinois Chamber's Government Affairs Committee. The votes in the Senate and House are selected based on their impact on the business community.
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HOLIDAY SURVEY RESULTS ARE IN
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CHAMBER MEMBER NEWS
 Ameren Illinois announced a new way of providing assistance to their customers who are struggling to pay their energy bills as a result to the pandemic. The "Fresh Start" program provides up to $700 per customer account that has a past balance as a result of COVID-19. Read more here.
Instacart partnered with Staples Stores in announcing their new Back-to-School shopper program including childcare financial assistance to states impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more here.
Illinois American Water is working with Sol Systems to develop two solar fields in Champaign to help save annual energy costs. Read more here.
 Ford Motor Company shipped 10 million face masks to local organizations to protect against COVID-19. Ford announced their target goal through 2021 is to donate 100 million medical-grade masks for at-risk communities across the U.S. as the country continues to reopen. Read more here.
Amazon and UPS announced their plans to hire additional employees to help keep up with the surge of online orders caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more here.
Google advanced their commitment on building sustainable equity for Google's Black+ communities by continuing to make products available when needed. Read more here.
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