7am News, Sports and Obits
Latest WGIL news
Click to play or
Right click and "Save Target As" to download
Click for Galesburg, Illinois Forecast
Home - Cancellations - Community Events - Contact Us - Mornings - News - Obituaries - Pictures - Programs - Special Events Audio - Sports - Weather
Group: Sales Tax Increase Would Easily Bring in More Money
In a time when state government could use a few billion dollars to close the budget gap, a new report indicates that $3.6 billion is available, if the state expands the sales tax base. A similar report in 2006 found that Illinois would bring in an extra $2.2 billion.

Dan Long, executive director of the legislature's Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, says Illinois only taxes about 17 of a total 168 categories of services. He says if the state started taxing dry cleaning, computer processing, haircuts, and other services, the extra cash would come in each year.

He warns, however, that one number in the report should be acknowledged and then tossed aside. The report shows that if the state included a business-to-business tax, it would bring in $7.3 billion. Long says that's a bad idea, comparing it to the gross receipts tax, which was proposed in 2007 by Gov. Rod Blagojevich and failed miserably among state lawmakers.

Hawaii taxes the most services at 160, followed by Washington at 158, and New Mexico at 146. Among nearby states, Wisconsin taxes 76 categories of services, Ohio taxes 68, Michigan taxes 26, and Indiana taxes 24.

(Illinois Radio Network)
09 12 09 by Newsroom
News management powered by Xpression News

Click here for the WGIL News Archive

Click here for national news

The following provision applies to all visitors (which shall include persons and representatives of legal entities, whether such representatives are persons or digital engines of a kind that crawls, indexes, scrapes, copies, stores or transmits digital content). By accessing this Web site or digital service, you specifically acknowledge and agree that: (i) Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium; (ii) No Associated Press materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use; (iii) The Associated Press will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing; (iv) The Associated Press is an intended third party beneficiary of these terms and conditions and it may exercise all rights and remedies available to it; and (v) The Associated Press reserves the right to audit possible unauthorized commercial use of AP materials or any portion thereof at any time.