We've previously explained why Illinois should not create a new bureaucracy that it will have virtually no control over. But there's another reason to reject a state-run exchange: doing so blocks new taxes on job creators.
ObamaCare imposes new taxes on employers - up to $3,000 per employee - if they fail to offer insurance policies approved by federal bureaucrats. There's just one hitch: those taxes don't kick in unless one of their employees gets an insurance subsidy through a state-run health insurance exchange.
The Obama administration has admitted they don't have the resources to set up a federal exchange in all the states that do not comply. But even if they manage to create federal exchanges, the law makes clear that the enforcement mechanism is only available through state-run exchanges. A federal exchange simply can't trigger the new employer tax.
Illinois has no responsibility to impose new taxes on job creators as a favor for the federal government. We're already losing entrepreneurs to states with lower taxes and fewer burdensome regulations. Do we really need to lose more?
