47 Comments - anon - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:20 am: Cable tv? Seriously? Like there aren’t enough taxes, fees, and surcharges already on the cable bill. lol - Earnest - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:22 am: I might be wrong, but I think this was proposed as part of the grand bargain and is now being attributed to the SDems only? - Not Rich - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:23 am: more taxes from the Senate Dems,….playing right into BVR’s hands - Romeo - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:25 am: “If you derive any usefulness or pleasure out of something, rest assured that we will tax it.”-Illinois - Ratso Rizzo - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:25 am: All these regressive taxes hitting the middle and lower classes hard when the elephant in the room is a progressive tax that is sorely needed. I know it’s not a political reality, especially with Rauner and Madigan in charge, but when will our elected do the right thing? - RIJ - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:27 am: Thank heavens for the barter economy! I barter a number of personal services. Also, how do they plan to tax me when the neighbor’s girl mows my lawn? - Rabid - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:27 am: Once the spending cap are broken there should be some kind of tax on ads - Fav human - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:28 am: But, on the other hand, if the service economy IS growing (and it is) ought not the state to derive revenue from it? If retail declines due to online shopping (and so sales tax) ought not there to be an internet tax? - Ratso Rizzo - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:30 am: Nickeling and diming all these services, hoping the public won’t notice it. Stop playing around and just propose a 6 or 7 percent income tax if they don’t have the stomach for what’s truly needed—a progressive tax. - Anonymous - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:31 am: The ILGOP starts to bash them over the head in 3…2…1 - Anon - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:31 am: At least the working poor won’t be paying most of these taxes, unlike the sales tax on goods, since they can’t afford the services in the first place. - A Jack - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:33 am: Lawn care and pest control which are also listed will affect quite a few small businesses. If we want to grow the Illinois economy and small businesses are considered key to economic growth, we probably shouldn’t be taxing these services. I still think that raising the income tax more instead of doing a service tax is the way to go. Illinois taxpayers are going to end up paying the tax whether it is service or income, but at least one can deduct state income tax from federal taxes to lessen the pain. Hitting both small businesses and taxpayers is not the path to economic recovery. - RIJ - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:35 am: Flapdoodle, I don’t find girls 40 years younger than me in the least appealing. In fact, it’s rather nauseating that a 55 year old would ogle a 15 year old. She’s still a child. - Name Withheld - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:35 am: I can see taxes applying on using a website to order a physical good, but not for virtual goods - for the simple fact that you don’t own anything you stream or digitally purchase. The Kindle books you ‘bought’ from Amazon - you don’t own them. You only have a limited non-transferable license to view them. Same thing with any digital video - like those movies you ‘buy’ from Apple. Or those games you download to your PS4 or Xbox One. It’s all licensing. Remember when Amazon removed people’s copies of 1984 from their Kindle a few years ago? People were ticked off, but because they didn’t actually own their copy - they only licensed it - Amazon could do it because the license allowed them to do so. Can you tax something that you’re not actually purchasing? - gdubya - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:41 am: “how do they plan to tax me when the neighbor’s girl mows my lawn?” I’m sure she’ll report it in her earnings. LOL! - Last Bull Moose - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:41 am: Name Withheld, Rentals can be taxed. Consider virtual goods as a form of rental. - Langhorne - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:43 am: The devill is in the details–planning, education, definitions, admin, and everything involved inthe rollout. More staff at revenue. And a couple three real nice contracts. - Flapdoodle - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:47 am: RIJ — sorry you’re so offended at what was an attempt at humor, something it seems we all need more of these days. Enjoy the weekend. - A Jack - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:48 am: Looked at another way, lawn care and pest control hire a lot of young people during the summer months. So these taxes might be costing jobs for young people. As far as storage units and cable services, I don’t have an opinion. Those types of services are usually provided by large companies which can better deal with additional taxes. - Rogue Roni - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:49 am: Good. It’s a dying industry. Bury it. - Name Withheld - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:50 am: ==Consider virtual goods as a form of rental.== But the agreement you agree to (the infamous clickwrap stuff that almost everyone blows past) isn’t a rental agreement - it’s a licensing agreement. So while it may effectively operate in a similar manner as a rental, it is not the same thing. - Anon - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 9:56 am: I assume that home rule municipalities and counties would be able to jack up the sales tax on services the way they do on goods. That pyramiding effect can result in a steep tax. - cdog - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 10:12 am: May I suggest they consider taxing automation. This tax should be based on how many jobs/man hours are replaced and eliminated. There will need to be some kind of revenue stream to pay for the displaced workers that will need services. - Chicago J - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 10:13 am: Taxing services is not very popular in Illinois. A recent poll found that people preferred to tax sugary drinks (72% support) than to raise tax on services like home repairs and landscaping (19%). At least someone can choose whether or not to buy a sugary drink (rather than a non-taxed diet soda). Much harder to choose when something breaks in your home or that rent prices are up because these services to maintain homes cost more. - Rich Miller - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 10:16 am: ===may effectively operate in a similar manner as a rental, it is not the same thing=== Lawyer talk. - A guy - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 10:34 am: Avoiding the tax that’s most productive is very anti-productive in this case. - Anon - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 10:34 am: === at least someone can choose whether to buy a sugary drink === Ditto for hiring a lawn service. One could care for his own lawn, or hire the neighborhood kid. - Anonymous - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 10:37 am: Look folks - my wife has made custom, one-of-a-kind wedding gowns for clients for 20 years. The Dept. of Revenue’s position is that making a gown is a taxable sale of a gown, not a service. So my wife has charged sales tax on the gowns she makes for 20 years. Not a big deal, and she’s as small a business as it gets. Sales taxes are added to the end consumer price. She blames the state, everyone nods and pays it. That what will happen here, too. As for the neighbor kid mowing your lawn, they simply won’t comply. The Dept. of Rev. knows this (and might even exempt these kinds of transactions by administrative rule), no one will care, and life will go on. The ideal solution to all of this, as many have pointed out, is a progressive income tax. But it won’t happen in our lifetimes, since it requires a constitutional amendment. So let’s quit moaning about the impossible and forge ahead with the possible. - City Zen - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 10:39 am: Included in this proposal is “private alarm”. My “private alarm” service also includes fire alarm monitoring. Good to see my life saving service is treated the same as a leg waxing. - City Zen - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 10:42 am: ==All these regressive taxes hitting the middle and lower classes hard when the elephant in the room is a progressive tax that is sorely needed.== Illinois already has a progressive tax: the retirement income exemption. The more you work, the more you’re taxed. Can’t get more progressive than that, right? - A guy - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 10:43 am: CZ, what did you start first, the leg waxing or the Alarm? That will determine the priority. lol - The Dude Abides - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 10:49 am: If most of these service taxes make it through to the final bill passed by the Senate I hope it meets its demise when the House weighs in. What I’m seeing from the Rauner administration and the Senate does not put the state back on the road to financial stability. RNUG nailed it. We need a permanent tax increase which will remain in effect until the bill backlog is fully eliminated and bills are being paid in a timely manner, say 60 days and also the Pension system is at least back to a 60% funding level. A responsible solution has been made more difficult since we’ve added 8 billion in unpaid bills in 2 years under the Rauner administration. That is going to take a long time. All these hidden service taxes are typical of our state and fall disproportionately on middle and lower income people. The ultimate solution would be the progressive income tax but I see no chance of that happening until we have a new Governor. It looks like the plan of the administration is to do just enough to get by until Rauner gets a 2nd term and can then no longer be held accountable by the voters. - My button is broke... - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 11:05 am: As to the license discussion, sure Illinois can tax it. When you buy a ticket to a Cubs game, that ticket is a license. And Chicago and Cook County already tax it without any legal issues. - Sue - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 11:10 am: The real revenue would be in taxing legal services but I guess that’s not going to happen since the legislature has so many stinking lawyers - @MisterJayEm - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 11:14 am: Illinois would charge sales tax on storage lockers, private detectives, lawn care and body piercing under legislation introduced in the Senate on Thursday. “It’s two-hundred dollars a day, plus expenses. Plus twelve-fifty sales tax.” — Jim Rockford Illinois. – MrJM - BK Bro - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 11:19 am: Taxing storage lockers? Man, Illinois is getting seriously desperate. - ano. - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 11:20 am: Add advertising revenues and legal fees stuff the impacts the 1%s. - Anonymous - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 11:21 am: Might I suggest an “Exit Tax” …. Joe Q. Public will revolt or move - Big Joe - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 11:36 am: @MisterJayEm. Thank you for making my day with the Rockford reference. Wonder if Angel Martin can come up with a scam to get us out of this revenue dilemma!! - Big Joe - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 11:38 am: MrJM, Wonder if Angel Martin can help our state get out of this Revenue scam? - RIJ - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 11:58 am: Flapdoodle, no, I do not find the sexual objectification of children by middle aged people to be humorous in the least. - Keyser Soze - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 11:59 am: This is just swell. My cable bill already rivals most car payments. - Flapdoodle - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 12:11 pm: RIJ — I said I was sorry you were offended and wished you a good weekend. Clearly you don’t know anything about me and all I know about you is your self-confessed middle age. There’s no point in continuing this, so again, sorry you were offended and have a good weekend. Peace out. - jdcolombo - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 12:12 pm: OOPS - that “Anonymous” post at 10:37 a.m. was me. And if anyone needs a wedding gown . . . I know a really good dressmaker . . . - Anon - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 12:31 pm: === Illinois already has a progressive tax: the retirement income exemption. === Who gets the most benefit out of that exemption? Is it the widows living on just Social Security,or is it retired households with exempt incomes well in six figures annually? - Pelonski - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 12:40 pm: You will never find a tax that people like and that doesn’t disproportionately affect some more than others, but service taxes are one of the best way to increase revenue. To paraphrase a misquote of Willie Sutton, taxes on services are appealing because that is where the money is. Over 80% of our economy is now service based. 50 years ago that number was around 60%. Since our sales taxes in Illinois are primarily based on product sales, the net effect has been a need to continually increase the tax rate to keep tax revenues growing at the same pace as the economy. Other states have tended to take a mixed approach by raising rates less but also by expanding the number of services taxed. If we expand the tax base to include more services in Illinois, it will help ease the pressure to increase rates. - Nikolas Name - Friday, Mar 3, 17 @ 3:44 pm: Middle class tax is all this is. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.