The Senate returned to Springfield Monday and passed the energy bill passed last week by the House, SB 2408. The Senate made no changes to the legislation passed by the House. The Governor signed SB 2408 on Wednesday. It is PA. 102-0662.

I reviewed the tax-related provisions in SB 2408 in last week's newsletter .

The Department issued Informational Bulletin FY 2022-01 entitled "Illinois Income Tax Act changes may require you to make or increase estimated payments to avoid penalty."

The September 17 edition of the Illinois Register did not contain any proposed rulemakings by the Illinois Department of Revenue.

The Department of Revenue adopted one rulemaking amending the vehicle use tax rules. The Department explained the amendments as follows:

"The Illinois Vehicle Title & Registration Law (625 ILCS 5/3-1001) and rules identify 3 situations where the tax rate is assessed at the rate of $15 per transfer or purchase of a motor vehicle in a private transaction. One situation is when the transferee or purchaser is the spouse, mother, father, brother, sister or child of the transferor. Section 151.105(d)(3). Subsection (d)(3) is being amended to clarify that the tax rate shall be $15 per transfer of a motor vehicle when the transfer is from one spouse to the other spouse in a dissolution of marriage proceeding and the transfer is made no later than 90 days from the date of a final, non-appealable order of dissolution of marriage. Presently, the Law and rules do not specify a date by which a return must be filed by the transferee of a motor vehicle subject to the Vehicle Use Tax. The Law empowers the Department to adopt rules that are reasonable and necessary to implement the Law. Generally, under the Use Tax Act, transaction reporting returns must be filed not later than 20 days after the date of delivery of the item that is being sold, but may be filed by the retailer at any time sooner than that if he chooses to do so. 35 ILCS 105/9. The proposed amendment to Section 151.115 provides that a transferee in a private transaction has 30 days to pay the tax and file a return."

The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity proposed a rulemaking establishing rules for the "Back To Business Grant Program." The Department described the new rules as folllows:

"The proposed rules implement the Back to Business Grant Program authorized by P.A. 102-16, Article 3 [20 ILCS 605/605-1050], and P.A. 102-17 Article 127, Section 35. The proposed rules provide the administrative framework required for the Department to administer this program which provides financial support to businesses that have incurred losses because of the COVID-19 public health emergency."

The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules met on September 14 and considered the response of the Illinois Department of Revenue to the JCAR objection to, and suspension of, the Department's emergency amendments to the Leveling the Playing Field regulations. The Committee voted to lift the suspension of the emergency rules based on the Department's agreement to make certain changes to the emergency rules.

The Department provided me with a copy of their response. Here is my reply to the Department's response.

One new case is presented for your amusement.

In Cantway v. Will County Collector the appellate court ruled that it was without jurisdiction to consider plaintiff's claim because the circuit court's dismissal of plaintiff's complaint without prejudice was not a final and appealable order.

Cantway filed an objection to his property taxes against the Will County Collector contending that he was not required to pay them. Apparently, he made one of the usual "tax protester" arguments - “[the tax levying] statutes do not apply to natural persons or American citizens; only to the government” and “there is no law requiring me as an American citizen to pay a real estate property tax.”

The State's Attorney filed a motion to dismiss on behalf of the Will County Treasurer and the Collector and the circuit court granted the motion to dismiss without prejudice.

On appeal, the plaintiff claimed that the circuit court lacked subject matter jurisdiction, that the two circuit court judges who presided over his case committed acts of treason, that both judges should be disbarred, and that he should be awarded $5 million in damages.

No new decisions have been posted by the Tribunal this week.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities issued their take on the federal tax proposals released by the House Ways and Means committee on September 13: "Ways and Means Revenue Bill Major Step Forward But Additional Steps Available"

As you can imagine, the National Taxpayers Union has a somewhat different take on the House Ways and Means proposal. Here is a copy of their memorandum to the members of the House Ways and Means committee.

Here is the Tax Foundation's review of the House Ways and Means proposal.

The City of Chicago recently introduced its 2022 Budget Forecast. According to the forecast: "[b]ased on current revenue and expenditure projections of existing operations, the City estimates a 2022 Corporate Fund gap of $733.0 million. This gap is driven by several factors, including increasing personnel, pension and debt obligations. The 2022 projection for these expenses assumes salary and wages will grow based on required and estimated contractual wage and prevailing rate increases, as well as cost of living adjustments for City employees. Personnel expenditures are expected to grow by more than $180.8 million in 2022, totaling $3,146.8 million."

Karl Frieden of the Council on State Taxation (COST) recently co-authored an article in State Tax Notes, "Convergence and Divergence of Global and U.S. Tax Policies"