The Homewood Village Board approved the execution of the 1% municipal grocery retailers’ occupation tax and a 1% municipal grocery service occupation tax at the June 10 meeting, effective Jan. 1. 

On Aug. 5, 2024, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a legislation repealing the 1% State of Illinois Grocery Tax, which is currently collected by the State and distributed to local governments. Homewood receives approximately $650,000 annually from this tax, Amy Zukowski, Homewood’s director of finance, said in her memo to the Board of Trustees. 

Municipalities are allowed to replace this tax with a local grocery sales tax. The village board has decided to implement the local tax in order to prevent the loss of $650,000 annually to the village’s General Fund revenues which is about 11% of the village’s total sales tax revenue, Zukowski said. 

About 200 other communities have decided to implement it, including neighboring municipalities to Homewood, she said. 

According to Zukowski, there are two categories for this tax. The first is municipal grocery retailers’ occupation tax, which applies to retailers that sell groceries. The second is municipal grocery service occupation tax, which applies to businesses, such as caterers, who transfer groceries to customers. 

“Although at first glance it may appear to be more than a 1% tax, each type of sale would only be taxed under one of these categories, for a maximum of 1%,” Zukowski said in her memo. 

Since it’s just a matter of replacement, customers won’t notice a difference in their grocery bills, she said. 

“Our governor acted as if he was doing us all a favor by repealing it,” Trustee Lauren Roman said, adding, “so he looks like the hero, we look like the bad guys, but it’s always been in place.” 

Mayor Rich Hofeld added a comment on the matter and on Pritzker. 

“If he was sincere about cutting anything, he would cut state taxes that go directly to the state, so this doesn’t affect the state at all,” Hofeld said.