Lake County Gazette

Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills) is still finding reasons to be proud of standing in opposition to the 2017 state budget.

“It’s bad enough that the Madigan-Rauner budget includes the revenues from the 32 percent tax increase in the income tax rate,” he said in a statement. “We now find out that the budget includes a tax increase on Illinois citizens made possible by the Supreme Court online sales tax ruling. I’m glad that I voted against this unbalanced budget that contains the status quo of high tax policies in Illinois.”

In the South Dakota vs. Wayfair ruling, the high court opened the door for Illinois to collect sales taxes from more out-of-state online retailers. With the law’s language having already been part of the Budget Implementation bill easily passed by the state legislature and quickly signed into law by Gov. Bruce Rauner the statute is expected to immediately go into effect.  

Estimates by the Commission on Government Forecast and Accountability peg revenues from the tax in the neighborhood of $150 million for fiscal year 2019, with budget implementation bill language stretching the state’s 6.25 sales tax to out-of-state retailers who do $100,000 or more worth of annual business in the state.

The law further stipulates all businesses reaching that plateau are considered to be “maintaining a place of business in this state,” requiring them to collect and remit the taxes.