Posted by Greg H. at 4/15/2011 12:34 PM CDT on Chicago Business
You might call it Amazon Tax II — a proposed sales tax “simplification” measure with potentially massive financial implications.
Chicago-area officials say the bill could cost them hundreds of millions, and maybe billions, of dollars a year. But the measure involved, S.B. 2194, nonetheless passed its first test at midday Friday, clearing the Illinois Senate with three votes to spare and heading to an uncertain fate in the House.
Technically, all the bill, sponsored by Sens. Toi Hutchinson, D-Olympia Fields, and Dan Kotowski, D-Park Ridge, would do is force the Illinois Department of Revenue to collect sales taxes based on one and only one factor: the location at which the item is purchased.