FILE - Construction workers, new housing
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Some Illinois Republicans found common ground with labor and the business community in a tax credit program aimed at boosting the state’s construction industry, but opponents say the plan uses tax dollars to subsidize union salaries and puts government in the position of picking winners.
State Rep. Keith Wheeler and several other GOP lawmakers stood with officials from the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 on Thursday to discuss the benefits of the Blue Collar Jobs Act. 
The program would offer businesses a 50 percent tax credit of the labor cost of a capital improvement project within the state. Businesses must use Illinois workers. It can be used in conjunction with the EDGE tax credit program and other incentives. The credit is bumped up to 75 percent of the labor wage costs when the construction is done in what is deemed an “underserved area.”
“This is an effort that brings labor, business and government together to drive economic development,” Wheeler said at a news conference.
Marc Poulos, representing laborers from the Indiana, Illinois, Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting, called the bill a good example of leadership in creating new trade jobs.
“The Blue Collar Jobs Act will spur more economic development throughout the state of Illinois while tying tax credits directly to the construction jobs created,” he said. “Jobs that provide income for first-time homebuyers and those trying to provide a better future for their children.”
Illinois’ construction laborers’ median hourly wage is $40.50, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. It’s the highest median compensation of the state’s employment sectors, according to Illinois Department of Employment Security.
Wheeler said those using the program would benefit from getting the tax credit after the project is completed. That means there’s no need for a claw-back provision similar to the one contained in the EDGE program that would attempt to get a portion of the credit back if the employer lays off workers. The EDGE credit, short for Economic Development for a Growing Economy, grants tax breaks when a company promises to create new jobs in Illinois. The tax break is based on the percentage of the expected income tax withholdings of the new jobs created in the state. 
“There’s no risk to the state that a company won’t meet a threshold or fulfill a promise and then have to claw that money back,” he said.
Critics of tax credits say they unfairly give advantages to connected businesses using the state's tax code.
"We should repeal the Madigan-Rauner 32 percent increase in the income tax rate," said state Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington. "That's the best way to create new jobs. Expanding the failed EDGE program will simply put the government further in the business of picking winners and losers." 
There were no Democratic sponsors of the bill as of Thursday afternoon.