Illinois’ state and local sales tax rates 11th highest in the nation

Illinois’ residents and businesses pay some of the nation’s highest taxes. Illinois has the ninth-highest state and local tax burden per capita, the second-highest property tax burden as a percentage of median home value and the fifth-highest gasoline tax. A recent Tax Foundation study shows that Illinoisans also pay the nation’s 11th-highest combined state and local sales tax rates. The report...

Illinois’ residents and businesses pay some of the nation’s highest taxes. Illinois has the ninth-highest state and local tax burden per capita, the second-highest property tax burden as a percentage of median home value and the fifth-highest gasoline tax.

A recent Tax Foundation study shows that Illinoisans also pay the nation’s 11th-highest combined state and local sales tax rates. The report notes that:

“Avoidance of sales tax is most likely to occur in areas where there is a significant difference between two jurisdictions’ sales tax rates. Research indicates that consumers can and do leave high-tax areas to make major purchases in low-tax areas, such as from cities to suburbs. For example, strong evidence exists that Chicago-area consumers make major purchases in surrounding suburbs or online to avoid Chicago’s 9.25 percent sales tax rate.

At the statewide level, businesses sometimes locate just outside the borders of high sales tax areas to avoid being subjected to their rates. The state of Delaware actually uses its state border welcome sign to remind motorists that Delaware is the “Home of Tax-Free Shopping.” State and local governments should be cautious about raising rates too high relative to their neighbors because doing so will amount to less revenue than expected, or in extreme cases, revenue losses despite the higher tax rate.”

This is further confirmation that Illinois is a high-tax state. Political leadership needs to stop papering over the need for reform at the expense of taxpayers and start implementing the structural reforms that Illinois so desperately needs.