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October 9, 2020
State and Local Tax
This Week
Illinois General Assembly
The General Assembly is adjourned until the fall veto session.
Illinois Department of Revenue
The Department issued a report to the General Assembly entitled Unified Economic Development Budget. This report is an annual report required pursuant to the Corporate Accountability for Tax Expenditures Act (20 ILCS 715/10). The report contains certain tax incentive amounts derived from tax returns for the 2017 tax year and state development assistance amounts from FY 2020.
The Department posted a list of ordinances received from local governments for Tax Rate Changes to Take Effect January 2, 2021 for the Simplified Municipal Telecommunications Tax, locally-imposed Business District retailers' occupation taxes, Home Rule Municipal Sales Tax, Municipal Motor Fuel Tax, and Recreational Cannabis Tax.
Rulemaking
The October 9 edition of the Illinois Register has not yet been published this morning. I've been advised that the Data Center regulations by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity are scheduled to be published as proposed rules in the near future.
Please get back to me if you have any comments about the recently proposed rules by the Illinois Department of Revenue to implement the "Leveling the Playing Field" sales tax legislation effective January 1, 2021.
Court cases
No new tax-related cases this week.
Tax Tribunal
No new decisions were issued by the Tribunal this week.
As of this morning, three new cases have been filed with the tribunal this week. The cases are all challenges to penalty liability assessments for sales taxes issued by the Department to alleged responsible officers.
Publications
The Illinois General Assembly's bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability ("COGFA") issued its Monthly Briefing For the Month Ended: September 2020.
The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy ("ITEP") issued a report that, unsurprisingly given their political bent asserts that Illinois's Flat Tax Exacerbates Income Inequality and Racial Wealth Gaps. My editorial comment: A quick review of the report reveals that this appears to be the usual selective use of statistics and estimates to "justify" their position of the moment - in this instance their support of the proposed graduated income tax constitutional amendment.
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity ("DCEO") is required to submit a monthly report to the Restore Illinois Collaborative Commission on the status of current and proposed economic revitalization efforts in response to the Covid-19 crisis. Here is a link to the most recent report. | 
