The Illinois General Assembly passed a budget package for the upcoming fiscal year that—once again—increases spending and taxes.
The budget includes over $53 billion in general revenue spending, a 1.6% increase over the current year’s general revenue spending (though 5% over the original budget passed last May).
To fund this additional spending, the legislature voted to raise a number of taxes to bring in over $800 million in new revenue. These tax increases include:
- Capping the retail discount that retailers receive for collected sales taxes at $1,000 per month (impacting retailers with monthly sales of approximately $650,000 or more at an assumed sales tax rate of 8.75%).
- Extending the cap on the net operating loss deduction that was set to expire—though raising the cap from $100,000 to $500,000.
- Imposing a new 1% tax on video-gaming terminals.
- Raising taxes on sports betting.
- Imposing new taxes on businesses that re-rent hotel rooms.
The budget package also provides for the elimination of the grocery tax on January 1, 2026, and increases the tax credit that employers are eligible for when they hire recently released offenders.
