CHICAGO -- Cook County, Ill., retailers and consumers have at least another week before a new beverage tax begins after a Circuit Court judge again postponed a hearing in a lawsuit brought by the Illinois Retail Merchants Association seeking to block the tax.
A 1-cent-per-ounce tax on the sale of sweetened beverages was scheduled to go into effect July 1 but was delayed by a temporary restraining order a day before. The temporary restraining order was set to run through Wednesday, but a scheduled hearing was pushed back in the wake of a motion by the Cook County Department of Revenue to dismiss the lawsuit, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune.
"We believe it's the county's attempt to both try to bleed us and buy more time to try their PR campaign that the sky is falling," Rob Karr, president of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, said July 11, according to the report.
In the wake of Tuesday's postponement, Cook County officials announced that more than 1,100 layoff notices could go out this month in the Chicago area, according to an Associated Press report. The county was counting on raising $67.5 million with the tax through Nov. 30 and had warned that cuts were possible without it.
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