Updates: Public Utility Taxation in Illinois
In the summer of 1985, the Illinois legislature
passed a bill that will partially convert
the state public utility tax from a gross receipts
to a usage basis beginning in January 1986.
The new law was passed in response to increasing
public opposition to the current state
utility tax. Many critics charged that the tax
was too high and too regressive. There was
also concern over the large automatic increase
in tax revenue which necessarily accompanied
the rising utility prices of the 1970s and 1980.
