Adding sales taxes to services is limited in the U.S., with 46 states not generally taxing services. Illinois may break from the pack and start adding sales taxes to haircuts, lawn care, car repair and a long list of other service expected to cost $2.7 billion.
Illinois lawmakers are looking to expand sales taxes to include things such as streaming services, gym memberships, vehicle repairs, hair care and other services to bail out Chicago’s failing transit systems and put more money in government budgets.
Chicago’s 2025 budget is facing a nearly $1 billion gap. Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to close it: increase taxes. The city’s rising non-personnel costs, now at $6.6 billion, will outpace its grant funding, squeeze taxpayers and increase regressive fees.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker approved doubling the state gas tax in 2019 and gave some counties and Chicago the power to hike local gas taxes. Lake County is the latest to consider doing so.
Very few people have been commuting to work since Illinois’ stay-at-home order began at the end of March, which could mean tax and fare troubles are ahead for Chicago’s mass transit.
State Sen. Martin Sandoval has resigned as chairman of the powerful Illinois Senate Transportation Committee, weeks after federal authorities raided Sandoval’s home and offices as part of an ongoing corruption probe.
The lawmaker who carried to the governor’s desk an infrastructure plan that doubled the state’s gas tax used his influence as a powerful state lawmaker to land his son a government job, a lawsuit alleges.