ILLINOIS (WAND) – Illinois leaders are considering creating a tax on plastic bags in store check-out lanes.
Gov. JB Pritzker’s budget proposal suggests an excise tax of five cents per bag. The idea is to generate money for the state and reduce the risk to wildlife caused by plastic, especially when it comes to the danger posed to fish and other water life.
Chicago already has a bag tax of 7 cents per bag, which replaced a complete ban on plastic bags the city repealed at the start of 2017. The tax covers both paper and plastic bags, with five cents of each tax charge going to the city and the other two cents going to businesses. It was expected to generate $13 million in total revenue a year.
The proposal expects tax to bring in between $19 and $23 million in revenue across the state.
Chicago would be exempt from the state tax because it already has one in place.
Pritzker’s budget proposal, which was announced Wednesday, includes $39 billion for the fiscal year. He called his plan an honest proposal and said it’s “not out of reach (and) the hole we need to fill is not ignored”.
