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Motorola
Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
4:36pm
Fri Aug 17, 2012

Illinois Corporations Skimp On Federal Taxes Despite Lavish CEO Pay

Libertyville-based Motorola Mobility paid no federal income taxes in 2011 even as company CEO Sanjay K. Jha received $47.2 million in annual executive compensation.

That is the finding of a report the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. released yesterday that looks at the 2011 tax returns of the 100 largest American corporations. The liberal-leaning think tank finds that at 26 of these firms CEOs  earned more in compensation than the company paid in federal corporate income taxes. In addition to Motorola Mobility, the list of these 26 companies includes three other Illinois firms: Abbott Laboratories, Boeing, and Motorola Solutions.

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Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
6:38pm
Mon Jul 30, 2012

Motorola Mobility Making Moves And Ruffling Feathers

In a June 2011 article, Gov. Pat Quinn told the Chicago Tribune why the state rewarded a tax credit to Motorola Mobility worth more than $100 million over ten years. “They told us that they were going to maintain 3,000 employees at their site in Libertyville and we believed them,” Quinn said.

To the chagrin of Libertyville, the company announced Thursday those jobs will be shifted to the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago. The Quinn administration confirmed that Motorola Mobility keeps its tax credit.

In Motorola Mobility's defense, the point of the tax credit was to keep the company in Illinois, not Libertyville. But why did Motorola Mobility get a tax deal in the first place? It is not clear how credible their threat ever was to move from Illinois. Also, Motorola Mobility needs taxpayer help less than ever as Google officially purchased the company in May. Talks of a Google acquisition were first publicly announced last August, soon after the tax break started. Read more »