Is Indiana About To Be Overrun By A Giant Caterpillar? (A Tax Exodus Story)

Less than a week ago, we reported on the state of Indiana's efforts to lure businesses from Illinois to their more tax-friendly environment.

It appears that Caterpillar may be Illinnoyed enough to leave. This very large manufacturing company may have seen the benefits of such a geographic shift and is considering pulling up stakes and moving to the Hoosier state.

A migrating Caterpillar would be a very interesting development as the company has been front and center in many of the President's discussions on American manufacturing and how large industrial concerns like CAT would benefit from the passing of his stimulus plan.

Remember early 2009?  The economy was in free-fall and a newly-elected president, with an unstoppable majority in both the House and Senate was pushing through his $800+ billion dollar Stimulus bill, claiming that this kind of spending would stop the job losses and put the country back on the path to recovery.

February 9, 2009, while on a campaign-like tour to promote his plan, President Obama even mentioned Caterpillar and the Stimulus bill together:

A few short days later, and shortly after Caterpillar announced job cuts in excess of 23,000,  Obama was in a Caterpillar Plant. Again, he tied his gargantuan spending plan to the future success of Caterpillar, American manufacturing, school kids, and just about anything else you could think of:

Just 24 hours later, the aforementioned 'Jim' (CEO Jim Owens) completely contradicted the President's claims that Caterpillar would be able to stop the layoffs and hire more people if his stimulus bill passed.

A strange sidebar to all of this. . . Just three days before Obama came to the plant, Jim Owens was named to the President's Economic Advisory Team.

It is also worth noting that GEs's Jeff Immelt, Anna Burger of SEIU, and another union honcho, Richard Trumka were also on the same economic advisory team.

Back to our story of the possibly creeping Caterpillar.

Current CAT president Doug Olberhelman, has reportedly sent a letter to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn basically putting the state on notice. Olberhelman also included some of the notes from other states hoping to woo his company:

"I stand ready to help convince you to relocate or expand in the fiscally conservative, low-tax Lone Star State," wrote Texas Gov. Rick Perry in a Jan. 24 letter.

"I encourage you to consider South Dakota as a place for your business to grow and prosper," noted J. Pat Costello, secretary of the South Dakota governor's economic development office.

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman wrote in February to say, "In Nebraska, we balance our budget by controlling spending, not by raising taxes."

The fact that two of the three letters from other states mentioned taxes is not a coincidence.  In January of this year, Illinois raised taxes sparking many neighboring states to start inviting their neighbors over for some lower-tax hospitality.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has not commented officially, but his spokesperson has announced a scheduled meeting between Quinn and Olberhelman on April 5th at a conference in Peoria, Il.

We will monitor the situation and update this story as needed.