Blagojevich Tax Plan Worries

Workers at one Champaign County company say they will be hit hard if the Governor's new tax plan becomes law. The Ludlow Co-Op Elevator Company has been a part of the Ludlow community for more than a century. Now, they are worried about what the future will hold. General Manager, Bruce Bastert says as soon as he heard about the governor's new plan, he did some math and was shocked by what he saw. The new plan is a gross receipts tax which taxes businesses based on sales and not income or profit. Ludlow Co-Op did $50 million in sales last year, but only pulled in around $950 thousand in profit. Bastert says if the plan goes through half of that profit would go to taxes and that hurts businesses like his and the farmers they serve. "Business is going to be forced to adjust. If it's a big high profit business it probably won't have a big effect," said Bastert. "If it's a small profit business, they have to either raise rates, pass it on, or go out of business." Bastert worries they could lose business to Indiana if such a plan goes through. Governor Blagojevich says the current system is flawed and his plan is a fair way to tax businesses.