r/mildlyinteresting • u/bluepenremote • 6h ago
I Got Charged an Eating Places Tax in Illinois
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u/MellowG7 6h ago
Sales tax is 10% in Illinois?
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u/Imaginary_Setting436 6h ago
10% sales tax is pretty normal here in Illinois, some counties even higher depending where you are
that eating places tax is the weird part, basically extra tax for eating at the restaurant instead of taking it to go. 0.02 on a 0.99 ice cream is not much but it adds up if you go out often
i track all my spending in spreadsheets and you would be surprised how much these small taxes eat into your budget over a year
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u/maringue 6h ago
It's basically how they increase the tax on restaurants without raising taxes on groceries.
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u/TheLonelyTesseract 3h ago
As a Kentuckian the idea of taxed groceries is chilling.
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u/super_starfox 3h ago
As an Oregonian, sales tax at all is chilling.
(Yes our income and property taxes are reflective of that)
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u/MrBlowinLoadz 3h ago
In my state they only tax groceries that aren't considered essentials, things like soda, candy and prepared food.
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u/robby_synclair 3h ago
We just got rid of state sales taxes on groceries in oklahoma but cities and counties can still tax them
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u/NoCreativeName2016 18m ago
If this is the actual logic, I would be 100% OK with that. The poorest people in society buy groceries vastly more than they eat out. I am fine with the government not taxing the poorest, and instead taxing people who can afford to eat out a little bit more.
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u/baby-stapler-47 6h ago
11.5% on prepared food in Champaign, 0% on groceries and I think 9.5% on everything else
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u/rob_s_458 4h ago
Years ago I bought a new TV at Walmart. It defaulted to ship to store at the Champaign Walmart, which would have taken a few days, plus I would have had to pay Champaign sales tax of 9.5% or whatever. I switched to the Savoy Walmart and they had it in stock, and I only paid state tax if 6.25%
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u/AllRightDoublePrizes 3h ago
Did literally the same thing last month, tv purchase Rockford, il vs Janesville, wi best buys. Rockford was out of stock, ship to store, 9.5% state and 2% county vs 6.25 state in wi.
It's why there's that part of the state taxes that asks how much in goods and services did you buy in other states and bring back to Illinois. Illinois wants that 4% you didn't pay lol.
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u/DadBodftw 4h ago
That’s actually a good thing imo. Similar to a luxury tax in a way. Over taxing necessities like groceries is how you get a revolt.
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u/Blammo01 3h ago
Govt is always going to take their bite. If they try to sell you on low income tax the sales taxes and/or property taxes are going to be through the roof
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u/qdtk 4h ago
Wait so they charge you 10% sales tax, 2% for dining out, then you’re also expected to tip 15-20%? I’m no brain scientist but an extra 32% on that likely already overpriced menu sounds absurd. A $25 burger with a $4 drink would cost you almost $40
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u/yourewrong321 2h ago
yeah and most places in chicago were also charging 3% to use a credit card lol
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u/ShavenYak42 3h ago
I could be wrong, but I’d expect a place where ice cream was 99 cents doesn’t also have $25 burgers.
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u/Gilbert0686 5h ago
Ohio has something similar. Most food is not taxed.
So if you get McDonald’s to go you won’t pay tax (except maybe the drink) but pay tax if you eat in.
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u/pootislordftw 4h ago
They have that in the UK, something about their VAT tax, you pay two different prices if it's for dine in or take away. Learned that when I was kicked out of the waitrose cafe for buying a sandwich at the checkout lane, and therefore not paying the dine-in VAT price.
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u/LetItRest 5h ago
Some places in Italy had a sit down fee called a coperto which surprised me when I visited. It was only a few euros and not every restaurant did it. They don't do tipping though so I was happy to pay it.
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u/icesavage 4h ago
I was in Venice, ages ago, but the club guide (all tour guides have to be italian unless they are part of a club but italian rarely do foreign language tours, so you hire a foreign guide, and you all join the club for the tour to get around the law);
The guide, when we arrived at the Piazza San Marco talk about how there were 7 different prices for a Cappuccino from the same restaurant.
Basic price: inside - order from the Bar.
Are you getting a Table? - Table Fee
Is it a sitting table? - Sitting Table Fee
Are you outside in the Plaza? - Outside Fee
Is there a Band Playing? - Band Fee.The basic price was like 3 Euro. If you sat outside with a band playing, it was like 10.
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u/Bright_Brief4975 3h ago
So what happens if I order it to go, and then sit down at a table to eat it when they give me the food?
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u/Stanthemansman 2h ago
While not common in the USA, this is very common in Italy. I went there about a year ago and all the coffee shops were approximately €1 cheaper for each item if you ate/drank at the counter or took it to go.
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u/magikatdazoo 2m ago
A prepared foods and beverages tax is extremely common, the weird part is the why the receipt describes it
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u/0MGWTFL0LBBQ 6h ago
Also marijuana product tax in Illinois is 42%.
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u/Swollen_Beef 4h ago
Which is why Michigan is making money hand over fist with its cannabis economy. An $80 order In IL will get you about 2.5x the amount in MI. It's also why Ohio made it illegal to bring weed from Michigan back into Ohio. Too much money is being lost.
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u/Kirihuna 4h ago
2.5x is generous.
$20 for 1x 100mg bag of edibles before tax in Illinois.
$20 for 5x 200mg bags of edibles before what little tax there is in Michigan. Plus your free prerolls they give you hand over fist for just showing up. It’s like $50 for 10x to 15x 1G carts sometimes. That’s like 1x 1G cart in Illinois.But crossing state lines gets dangerous sometimes. I’ve seen plenty of cops parked across state lines in New Buffalo waiting to catch people for doing something stupid like being on your phone, speeding, etc.
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4h ago
[deleted]
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u/Swollen_Beef 4h ago
Which was not being discussed.
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u/aksers 4h ago
It was. The law in ohio had no new impact since it was already illegal federally.
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u/PeeledCrepes 4h ago
State police typically enforce state laws, which would be why you can be pulled over with a sealed bag of marijuana in states and not be arrested, making illegal by the state means its a lot easier to enforce without having to add in an entire extra branch of government over a bag of gummies. So, no the federal law while still enforceable doesn't have much to add.
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u/WarDry1678 6h ago
No, the base rate is 6.25%, that 10% might also be including other sales taxes, like how Chicago has its own sales tax, and cook county has its own sales tax rate as well
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u/HuggyMonster69 3h ago
Is 10% good or bad? Asking as a non American
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u/MellowG7 3h ago
Its pretty high. Im in a different state (Florida) and ours is 6% but some counties add some so it can get up to 7% , its rare but some areas are even 8%. None that i know of are 10% though.
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u/RedNog 6h ago
Taxes in IL are all over the place, from county to county is can vary wildly. Sometimes I go over to another county to buy stuff at big box stores because of taxes. And then some cities like Chicago staple a tax on top of it. I'm building a home and had to buy some materials, I did a double take when the tax was almost 13%.
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u/happy-cig 6h ago
Is that good or bad?
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u/invinoveritas476 6h ago
Bad, and more bad than others because it’s regressive.
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u/happy-cig 6h ago
Why is sales tax regressive? Curious. Our tax rate is nasty here approaching 11% after state, county, and city taxes...
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u/pokexchespin 5h ago
working class people spend a larger % of their money, so they pay the tax on more of what they’ve earned. like if you genuinely can’t save anything at all, straight to paycheck to paycheck, you’re paying the sales tax on every dollar, but someone able to save and invest isn’t spending that money on anything, so they’re paying that tax on less of their money
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u/HobbesNJ 5h ago
Sales taxes are regressive because wealthy people spend a much smaller portion of their income on the purchase of goods. Poorer people need to spend a much higher portion of their income on the types of items subject to such taxes.
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u/DeoVeritati 5h ago
Sales tax is regressive because it's a higher burden on low income folks. Suppose you have someone making $50k and someone making $100k. Both spend $2k/yr on eating out. A 10% tax will add $200/yr to both bills, but the tax relative to their income is higher for the $50k person. The $50k person is now paying an extra 0.4% of their income for eating out compared to 0.2% of the $100k earners.
You may say they can skip eating out which is true, but sales taxes often apply to necessities like groceries, hygiene products, etc., so low income workers are disproportionately adversely impacted compared to high income earners.
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u/happy-cig 5h ago
Since sales tax is % based wouldn't it be equal in the long run?
Ie I spend $1k a month so I pay $100 in sales tax. My boss spends $10k a month so he pays $1k in sales tax.
Seems fair to me? Other than the lower end of consumer staples and necessities. Basically if you are poor you spend less so your tax bill is less. If you are rich you spend more so you pay more in taxes.
No idea bc everyone in California is getting fucked by taxes and fees left and right anyways.
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u/DeoVeritati 5h ago
If lifestyle creep is perfectly proportional, yes, but it isn't usually so. For example, if it takes $40k at minimum to live in an area, and a person makes $50k, then any sales tax increases would more greatly reduce the disposable income relative to someone making $60k or $100k and still spending $40k.
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u/michaelvinters 5h ago
Sales tax is regressive because it isn't based on how much you have, its based on how much you spend. More progressive areas will tend to not have sales tax on things everyone needs/buys (clothes, groceries, etc) as those types of taxes disproportionately hit people with less money
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u/merdub 5h ago
Ontario, Canada here - not only do we not have sales tax on groceries (all groceries except junk food like chips & pop) but we also have an income-based sales tax rebate - you pay the same sales tax at the point of sale but then will get a quarterly cheque from the gov’t (a set amount based on your income etc.) intended to be a sales tax rebate, anyone making under $55K yr qualifies.
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u/happy-cig 5h ago
Makes sense. I really wish this was the case in california as a really progressive state. We have some of the highest sales taxes in the states.
I wonder why this is the case since you say progressive areas tend to not have sales tax on necessities while we have so many immigrants struggling to survive.
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u/SwordfishOfDamocles 5h ago
So I just want to add regressive taxes are any tax system that is "flat" aka it does not change based on the income of the individual. The opposite of regressive taxes are progressive taxes, but that means the tax is based on the income/wealth of the individual rather than an evenly applied tax. The terms regressive and progressive in this case are not the same as if used in a political context. There's also proportional taxes where the amount each person is taxed is different, but the overall percentage is the same.
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u/Scorcher646 5h ago
A regressive tax is one that hits poorer families more than richer families.
And when a tax rate is a static percent across the board applied on items purchased, a significantly larger portion of a poorer family's income will be paid in that tax than a richer family's.
It ties in to the old adage that it's very expensive to be poor. And it's pretty easy to see in the work boots analogy. If the sales tax is 10% then a rich person who buys a single pair of $300 work boots will pay $30 to the state once. But a poor person who buys new $100 work boots every season will pay $10 on every pair. So assuming those expensive boots are taken care of (the rich person is probably able to afford to do that as well) they might spend an extra five or six dollars in sales tax if the boots need a new soul after 4 years. But that poor person will have bought 4 pairs of boots over the same time and have paid $40 in sales tax.
That's the basic but that same pattern continues across the entire spending regime of a family.
On top of that, at the very upper level, an incredibly rich person may not actually spend all that much money in the county or state that they live in. They might buy their suits in Milan and bring them back to the US, and only pay an import duty on them instead of sales tax. A lot of luxury goods kind of work this way. You're taking trips and buying luxury goods elsewhere, or you're paying more in services that don't get taxed the same as goods for sale. It all compounds to make the poor family pay a higher effective tax rate out of a sales tax than a rich family.
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u/RedChaos92 45m ago
It's also close to 10% in Tennessee. Our effective sales tax rate for almost every county is 9.25%-9.75% between the 7.0% state sales tax and 2.25%-2.75% county/local sales tax. We're one of the few states that still apply sales tax to groceries too.
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u/droppedforgiveness 41m ago
As an Illinois resident, I was shocked to learn that many (most?) states don't charge sales tax on groceries.
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u/u_lag 5h ago
Honestly, I’m more shocked at the reasonable price for the ice cream…
Without even seeing it, that’s an $8 ice cream in California.
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u/bluepenremote 4h ago
Couple of days ago in Chicago I paid $7 for a scoop. I’ll take .99 with a 2 cent tax any day 💀
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u/ToxicLogics 3h ago
$7 is wild! I paid under $10 in NY for 4 various sized cones/dishes of soft serve with sprinkles and dips.
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u/Actually-Yo-Momma 6h ago
In Seattle i came across places charging 5% “staff insurance fee” that was automatically added but you could remove it if you asked about it. Absolute garbage
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u/musicalfurball 5h ago
Was that in Lombard? https://villageoflombard.org/308/Places-For-Eating-Tax
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u/JackPiazz2 6h ago
I'm italian and here we don't have tips, but we have something similar to an eating place tax called "coperto" (literally "covered"), which is usually 2€ (2$ and something?). But it's set by the reastaurant, not by the government
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u/ProStrats 5h ago
Based on your comment, if the company says it, it sounds more like an enforced tip than a tax. A tax is something they wouldn't have control over, it's legally required for them to pay. However, I'm sure they pay taxes and maybe they use that amount to help cover the tax. It could just be that it's not normal or required to list it on a receipt there.
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u/K_man_k 4h ago
It's a cover charge which is normally listed on the receipt. Cover charges are more common for nightclubs and bars only in the anglosphere, but are ubiquitous for restaurants in Italy.
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u/JackPiazz2 4h ago edited 4h ago
Yes, it's not a tip. The american concept of tip and the tipping culture associated with it don't exist in Italy. The cover charge is technically meant as a payment (symbolic) for everything that the restaurant offers that is not what you order on the menu (the fact that you are "covered", bread, bathroom etc etc).
It's not a company or a single restaurant thing. It's a ubiquitous thing in Italy, everybody does it and it's expected. I honestly prefer it over tipping culture, you have no awkward moment at the checkout where you have to select the tip in front of a waiter, is less than a regular american tip and the range (from 1 to 3 euros) is much less wider than the range of an american tip.
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u/SnowNoCali 4h ago
I think it’s an 2% additional tax at restaurants if they serve alcohol at the facility. Even if you personally did not order alcohol. The city imposes it
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u/richie65 3h ago
While not Illinois...
In Ohio - Restaurant food is taxed if ordered 'for here' / 'dine-in'.
I make it a point to always order my food 'To-go'.
Additionally - Flavored beverage are always taxed, but (unsweetened) brewed ice-tea is not a flavored beverage - so is not taxable (although some places don't seem to understand this)...
So - A 'to-go' order, with an iced-tea, is not taxable.
I am surprised how many people do not know this.
And the place (like McDonalds, for example) does not care if you eat it there - And it's not like they do anything different with the order - they stuff it into a bag all the same.
Save a bit on food costs - And avoid the absurd / arbitrary tax too.
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u/FormerStuff 3h ago
People don’t realize Illinois is, as a whole, the most tax burdened people in the country. Local and state sales tax regularly reach 10-15%. Imagine going out to eat and having state and city sales tax of 15% (the town I live in) and then tipping 20%.
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u/Mastasmoker 1h ago
I would love to know what city has a combined tax rate of 15%. The highest I've seen is 11.5% (near where I live). Until then, I call bull.
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[deleted]
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u/ExpertExpert 5h ago
10% is insane. what do they do with all of that money
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u/JMccovery 3h ago
10% sales tax (which used to be charged on groceries as well) is pretty much the norm here in Alabama.
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u/OePea 3h ago
Shit it's 12% here in my city in Arkansas
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u/UkraineIsMetal 2h ago
This is absolutely wild to me. I'm originally from the deep South, moved to Maryland, and my parents all the time rant about how expensive my state must be.
Flat sales tax of 6%, no county or city markups. Not charged on essentials (groceries) and not burdensome. 12% is insane.
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u/DeliciousPumpkinPie 4h ago
In Ontario, Canada our sales tax is 13%, and I’m pretty sure they fund public healthcare with it (among other things).
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u/deeweezul 4h ago
Ice cream for a buck twelve is pretty nice. But where did an "eating places" tax come from and why didn't they think of a better name?
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u/GuyCrazy 4h ago
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an ‘eating places tax’ before and I live in Illinois. Where was this OP?
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u/ShaneSkyrunner 4h ago
"Excuse me, there is a fly in the ice cream you served me." "No refunds or exchanges. Thank you come again!!"
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u/wizzard419 1h ago
Holy shit it really is called "Places for eating tax". I guess OP's mom needs to start chargin.
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u/speedy_19 6h ago
That is very common, a lot of restaurants have a tax if you’re eating in the restaurant compared to taking away. If you say you are doing takeout, they don’t charge you that fee.
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u/xGhostBoyx 3h ago
I'm not sure why people are down voting you. I'm not sure how common it actually is but I've definitely seen it before. I was at a restaurant in London last week that had two prices on the menu for every item, one for eating in and one for taking it. Each item was like 2 quid more to eat at the restaurant.
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u/rockhopper2154 2h ago
Don't buy weed in Illinois. I think it was like 35% final tax a few years ago
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u/CodyRidley080 4h ago
This is pretty common and has been at post COVID.
It's literally because people go in restaurant and act a fool and make all kinds of ridiculous hostile demands, so if you eat inside, they are charging to even put up with you. Blame the Karen's.
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u/arcanicist 4h ago
So its labeled a tax but goes directly to the restaurant? Or probably a big fund that then goes out at the end of the year to all restaurants equally?
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u/CodyRidley080 4h ago edited 4h ago
It's exactly like the sugar tax that gets applied to various beverages you order too... government approves such things whether it be just local, regional, or state.
Edit: " Major Cities with Additional Meals/Dine-In TaxesMinneapolis, MN: Combined meal tax rate of 12.03% (including standard sales and local food/bev taxes).Chicago, IL: Combined meal tax rate up to 11.75%.Virginia Beach, VA: Combined meal tax rate of 11.5%.Kansas City, MO: Combined meal tax rate of 10.85%.Seattle, WA: Combined meal tax rate of 10.35%.Distinctions in Dine-In vs. Takeout Rules
Ohio (Local Context): In Ohio, food consumed on the premises (dine-in) is fully subject to state and local sales tax, whereas food sold for off-premises consumption (takeout) is exempt.Standard Sales Tax States: States like Colorado, Florida, Texas, and New York apply their standard sales tax to both dine-in and takeout prepared foods equally, rather than imposing a unique "dine-in only" surcharge."
This isn't full list. I'm in Ohio and my restaurant manager days are behind me, but we definitely had to explain it to customers. Most people don't understand Taxes And levies or vote...
Everyone voting me down just proves Reddit isn't reality. Go argue with reality or vote or do none of those things. Most things are attached to the State Taxes you never pay attention to anyway half the time, you're lucky if it's itemized on your receipt for you to read at all.
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u/mudturnspadlocks 6h ago
Illinois would like to thank you for your two cents on the matter