There will be no newsletter next Friday.  I'm taking next week off and will be back in the office on September 3.

Illinois General Assembly

The House and Senate have adjourned until the fall veto session.  The first day of the veto session is scheduled for October 28.  The following are some items that we may see in the veto session.

Mayor Lightfoot's proposal to tax "high end services"

According to recent press reports, the Mayor of Chicago intends to seek authorization from the Illinois General Assembly in the fall veto session to tax "high end professional services."  Here is a  link to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times discussing this proposal. 

You may recall that prior to her election, the Mayor proposed taxing "large law firms and accounting firms."  Her most recent comments referencing "high end professional services" sounds broader than her original proposal to tax law firms and accounting firms.

We are working with  a group of associations, that will oppose attempts to authorize the City of Chicago to impose taxes on professional services.  There are a variety of constitutional, legal, and practical problems that would be associated with any such attempt.  

The Mayor is scheduled to provide more details about the Chicago budget on August 29.  We will monitor that discussion and I will provide you with additional details as they become available.

Sales Tax

As discussed previously, the changes to the Retailers' Occupation Tax and the Use Tax as a portion of  SB 690 are so flawed that they appear to be incapable of being administered in their present form and are of dubious constitutionality.  

There will be efforts made during the fall veto session to address some of the problems with SB 690 as adopted.  The Department of Revenue will be involved in those efforts and I will be involved as well.  I will keep you posted and reach out to you for guidance as matters develop.

Property Tax - Assessor's Data collection proposal

The Cook County Assessor's legislation to impose data reporting requirements on owners and certain tenants of "income producing properties",  SB 1379 did not move forward in the House during the last days of the spring session.  The Assessor may again attempt to move this legislation forward during the veto session.  We continue to work with other business organizations to oppose this misguided and flawed proposal.

Rulemaking