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* The Daily Herald’s Jake Griffin…
Taxpayers in Chicago and the collar counties paid the majority of incomes taxes collected by the state in 2015 — and that share is at its highest level in at least eight years, according to individual income tax data released this week by the Illinois Department of Revenue.
Seventy-one percent of income taxes paid by individuals in Illinois came from Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties, totaling $14.2 billion.
That reflects a steady rise over at least eight years, from 68.7 percent in 2009.
Local governments don’t get the same share back, however. A portion of income tax funds are sent back to local governments based on population, and the six counties contain less than 65 percent of Illinois residents.
The full report is here.
6,150,656 individual income tax returns were filed in 2015, and 2,321,850 were from Cook County, about 38 percent. Cook County residents paid $5,821,194,532 in income taxes, about 41 percent of the statewide total.
DuPage County taxpayers were 7 percent of all those who filed statewide and paid 10 percent of the total income taxes.
Sangamon County taxpayers were 1.5 percent of those who filed and paid 1.2 percent of the total.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 9:48 am
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Income inequality and cost of living in the different regions of the state accounnt for the taxes paid/taxes returned difference. It is kind of a straw man argument unless wages are the same throughout the state, or unless taxes returned to the different regions are based solely on taxes paid by the different regions.
Comment by My New Handle Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 9:56 am
You’ll never get the majority of those in the other 96 counties to believe it.
Those of us born and raised Downstate are conditioned from birth to believe that we’re getting robbed blind by the Chicago metro, that all those tall buildings are welfare offices, liquor stores and Cadillac dealerships.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 10:02 am
Yet another confirmation of the fact that the state could absolutely afford a property tax swap for education funding…IF income taxes were actually raised. Chicago metro can sustain it; on the other hand Chicago metro can sustain a property levy system as well.
It’s downstate that continues to be punished by the ridiculous balkanized policies they enthusiastically vote for.
Comment by Will Caskey Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 10:04 am
@My New Handle
I agree that cost of living is likely the reason for the higher portion of income in the city & suburbs. However, I disagree that this is a straw-man argument.
I think this post is more about countering the regionalist narrative that Downstate Illinois pays the City of Chicago’s spending. I grew up in Central Illinois on that story, but it’s just not based on numbers–as partially evidenced above. Therefore I’d argue it’s a valid point to raise.
Comment by Chicago_Downstater Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 10:11 am
Surprised legislators north of I-80 haven’t proses legislation to secede from Illinois.
This is what happens when you pander for votes for decades demonizing the economic engine of the state. That helps pay for state universities downstate and road projects that pay prevailing wage to workers across Illinois.
Comment by Almost the Weekend Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 10:12 am
When measuring the number of tax returns against the amount of tax dollars collected, only 5 counties come out positive: Lake, Cook, DuPage, McHenry, and Monroe. Lake, Cook, DuPage are 10% combined above break-even. All 97 other counties are negative.
Winnebago, St Clair, Madison, Rock Island, and Sangamon are the bottom 5.
Comment by City Zen Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 10:14 am
Question- as Amazon and other online takes more sales away from local retailers- who collects the online sales tax and is it allocated to the local gots based on purchasers locations?
Comment by Sue Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 10:18 am
Local governments
Comment by Sue Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 10:20 am
Um, Sue, who pays local sales taxes when purchasing online?
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 10:25 am
Just like Southern states think they pay for Northern states.
Comment by Amalia Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 10:31 am
== who collects the online sales tax … ==
You are supposed to voluntarily report it on IL-1040 line 23 … something a lot of people skip over or forget to do.
I’ll also note this is after all deductions, do even the retired are supposed to pay it.
Comment by RNUG Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 10:33 am
@Sue
As far as I can tell, online purchases from companies with a physical location outside of Illinois are collected by the state. These laws were setup by specialized legislation known as “Amazon Laws” for obvious reasons. Therefore all local governments are likely to be hurt from decreasing brick & mortar sales equally, so it doesn’t really fit into the
ownstate Vs Chicago” narrative…though I’m sure someone will try it.
Comment by Chicago_Downstater Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 10:34 am
Why can’t downstate pull themselves up by the bootstraps and support themselves? Time for the downstate tax subsidy to end!
Comment by Joe Bidenopolous Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 10:42 am
== online purchases from companies with a physical location outside of Illinois are collected by the state.==
Line 23, IL-1040.
Comment by RNUG Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 10:42 am
The belief in downstate areas that they pay the freight in IL is misguided. But what is not is the feeling that they are forgotten and ignored. This, more than anything, is what fuels downstate’s voting behavior.
Comment by JB13 Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 10:51 am
That’s interesting, if you look at the individual collar counties, Will and Kane didn’t come out too bad. They have 4.98% and 3.70% of the returns, and they paid 4.91% and 3.70% of the taxes. That’s not what I expected. Combined the four other counties (Cook, Dupage, McHenry, and Lake) have 52.64% of the returns and pay 62.28% of the taxes. All other counties (except Monroe somehow, by a tiny margin) pay less taxes than their proportion of returns.
Comment by Perrid Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 10:53 am
(1) Looks like an argument that the local share of income tax revenue should be disbursed on a per resident basis rather than a per governing body basis. (2) Amazon has a physical presence in Illinois, creating nexus, so they are required to collect Illinois sales tax from customers. Customers who purchase from retailers without an Illinois nexus are required to self-report as per RNUG’s explanation.
Comment by SAP Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 11:03 am
- Sue - Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 10:18 am:
Question- as Amazon and other online takes more sales away from local retailers- who collects the online sales tax and is it allocated to the local gots based on purchasers locations?
Amazon has been collecting sales tax based on where the product is delivered to, for at least 2 or 3 years. If you order something delivered in Illinois, you pay the Illinois sales tax.
If you order a gift for someone and have it delivered direct to someone in another state, (California for example), you pay California sales tax. If someone in California sends you a gift direct from Amazon, they pay Illinois sales tax on that item.
Comment by DuPage Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 11:14 am
- SAP - Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 11:03 am:
(1) Looks like an argument that the local share of income tax revenue should be disbursed on a per resident basis rather than a per governing body basis.
The LGDF is distributed on a per capita basis.
Comment by Dance Band on the Titanic Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 11:22 am
I hope Revenue’s report doesn’t have any mistakes.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 11:28 am
I would also like to know how much real estate tax is collected from each of these counties and how much goes to schools. Be interesting to see who is paying their fair share to schools
Maybe Chicago and all the collar counties should be cut of from the downstaters since they think we are such a drain.
Comment by DuPage Saint Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 11:55 am
DS, in my two Oak Park districts, 90%+ of school funding comes from property taxes.
Not whining, I knew that when I made the choice.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 12:10 pm
Word your first comment is basically the demagoguery of politicians that we people accept. like the myth governemtn is blaoted and we can just cut instead of raising taxes. Chicago is a drain not an economic engine.
RNUG thats the voluntary line on individual forms. I believe there is a wink wink emoji next to it.
Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 12:39 pm
== RNUG thats the voluntary line on individual forms. I believe there is a wink wink emoji next to it. ==
Probably. But I do fill that line out and write a check every year.
Comment by RNUG Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 1:19 pm
Cook and the collars paid 71% in 2015, up from 68.7% in 2009. It will be three-quarters soon. Downstaters who love to bash the Chicago area should take note about whom is paying the lion’s share of state taxes.
Comment by anon2 Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 4:26 pm
Dance Band: Yes, brain cramp for me. Trying too hard to be snarky.
Comment by SAP Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 4:55 pm
I do keep track of purchases and pay everything owed in taxes.
Comment by cc Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 5:30 pm
I would get the “unfairness” of it all, but as long as the downstate is subjected to policies dominated by the Chicago metro legislative powers…. Not that other Midwdstern States are exploding, but places like Iowa are much friendlier to their rural communities.
Comment by Shemp Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 9:52 pm
Shemp, it’s pretty friendly to get more back in tax dollars than you pay in.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 10:32 pm
Shemp,
I lived in Iowa, the summer after I left college. There’s a reason I moved back to Illinois. It’s called “jobs”.
Comment by Lynn S. Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 11:34 pm
And, ye gads! The county I grew up in pays about 4% of the taxes paid by the county I live in now. Of course, the smaller, poorer county continues to insist that they are overtaxed! and paying the bills for Chicago.
Comment by Lynn S. Wednesday, Aug 9, 17 @ 11:40 pm