Republicans argue that their plan to eliminate Illinois’ 1% grocery tax deserves consideration as the ongoing dispute over how to tackle this issue persists.
In 2022, the legislature took action to tackle high inflation by completely eliminating the 1% grocery tax for a period of 12 months. Now, Governor J.B. Pritzker aims to permanently abolish this tax, but local governments are concerned about the potential impact of losing $375 million in revenue. On Tuesday, Governor Pritzker unveiled his strategy to address this issue.
Governor Pritzker mentioned that the option of reinstating the tax on food will be discussed in the General Assembly. However, he personally does not recommend it, as he believes that taxing food is not appropriate.
According to State Sen. Don DeWitte, R-St. Charles, the governor and Democrats expressed their concerns in 2022 regarding the need for finding alternative sources of revenue to support local governments.
State Senator DeWitte emphasized that $323 million is a substantial sum of money, representing the salaries of police officers, firefighters, and the funding for essential public works projects in municipalities.
According to DeWitte, the governor and Democrats are disregarding his bill, which aims to compensate for the decrease in local revenue by utilizing the withheld portion of the state’s income tax via the Local Government Distributive Fund.
DeWitte criticized the governor’s decision, stating that it simply shifts the blame onto municipal governments. He argued that taxpayers do not benefit when the grocery tax is eliminated only to be reapplied by local authorities.
Lawmakers have until the end of May to pass a spending plan, which includes making a decision regarding the grocery tax.
In Chicago, Pritzker has revealed the next phase of his plan to further his proposed grocery initiative. The upcoming fiscal year is projected to see Illinois taxpayers spending a total of $20 million on this comprehensive program.
On Tuesday, the announcement was made for the launch of the New Stores in Food Deserts Program. This program aims to address the issue of food deserts, as defined by the USDA, by providing competitive grants to incentivize the establishment of new grocery stores.
According to Pritzker, the intention behind the initiative is not to tackle the issue of increased grocery bills. Instead, it aims to support grocers who are currently facing challenges.
According to Pritzker, the idea has proven successful in locations like Kansas. However, if the initiative fails to yield positive results in Illinois, he expressed the possibility of discontinuing it.
He expressed his plans, stating, “If it isn’t effective, we will likely scale back. However, if it proves successful, we will fully commit.”
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker expressed his concern about supporting initiatives that are not effective and detrimental to the state and its taxpayers. He emphasized that it is not the responsibility of the state to continuously back something that does not yield positive results.
According to DeWitte, he acknowledges the value of the grocery initiative in tackling the challenge of providing quality food options to consumers in both rural and urban areas.