And on it goes down the list of cavity-inducing standbys as the state scratches to squeeze more money out of consumers to help pay for a $31-billion public-works program Gov. Pat Quinn recently signed into law.
Slated to go into effect Sept. 1, the new tax laws [image-nocss] are fraught with headache-inducing complexity that could make routine grocery shopping more expensive and deciphering the register tab far more difficult, according to the report.
"Good luck explaining this to customers," Art Potash, owner of the Potash Bros. chain of neighborhood food marts in Chicago, told the newspaper. "Then we're the bad guy because we can't explain it to them sufficiently. ... It's a nightmare on many levels."
Retail food sales have long been taxed at a steep discount from other merchandise, and the state defined food in a way most dentists and moms never would, by including candy and soda. The new tax rules demote candy and soft drinks from the food group, making them subject to the full sales-tax freight, which can run as high as 10.25% in Chicago.
In practical terms, a $1 candy bar that now sells for about $1.02 with tax will cost about $1.10 under the new rules, the newspaper reported.
Confusion sets in because lawmakers, in raising the tax, also carved out gaping exceptions. Sweets containing flour as an ingredientand there are a lot of themare not legally deemed to be candy, even if common sense and common taste say otherwise. And yes, licorice-based products such as Twizzlers have flour in them.
At a minimum, the new definition could force retailers to scour the fine print on ingredient labels for hundreds of common products and then make difficult judgment calls on their taxability. Some legal experts say the complexity built into the law could make it ripe for a legal challenge.
To make things more complicated, outside Chicago the tax will vary from town to town and county to county. Interpreting the new rules may not be a big deal for giant chains such as Wal-Mart or Walgreens, which have large staffs of legal and product experts on the payroll. It's a different story for small grocers and mom-and-pop convenience shops.
"I anticipate having to make some arbitrary choices about what a high tax is and what a low tax [is]," complained Arthur Paris, the owner of Carnival Foods in Chicago. "It is virtually impossible for a one-horse shop like me to get this right."
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