Statewide Plastic Bag Tax Might Come to Illinois
Entertainment tax, gas tax, license stickers going up, and now a Bill sits in the Senate for approval on plastic bag tax.
Illinois would be the only state to enforce a plastic bag tax, 7-cent will be added to your shopping bill. According to illinoispolicy.org,
First, a new tax introduced by state Sen. Terry Link, D-Gurnee, would charge Illinois shoppers statewide an extra 7 cents per plastic bag.
Chicago would be excluded from this tax, the cities population is 2.7 million, this new bill would be for cities and towns 2.5 million and under. There are actually two Bills waiting to get voted on one from the governor which has a tax of 5-cents, and one from Sen. Terry Link, D-Gurnee, which would have a 7-cent tax. Here'e the breakdown of cost to you the customer:
- 2 cents per bag flows to the retailer
- 2 cents per bag flows to the state’s general revenue fund
- 3 cents per bag flows to a new state-level Checkout Bag Tax Fund
If either law passes, Illinois will be the only state who would have a plastic bag tax
The problem I have is that I have reusable bags, 99% of the time I forget to grab them, looks like I won't be forgetting them anymore. If this goes through start buying reusable bags now, I am sure with the demand for reusable bags that cost will go up as well.