Overriding a recent City Council vote, Mayor Daniel Biss vetoed a 1% city tax on groceries Wednesday.
The council passed the tax with a 5-3 vote Monday to replace a similar state tax set to expire Jan. 1, 2026.
To override Biss’ veto, six councilmembers would have to vote in favor of the ordinance.
Ald. Bobby Burns (5th), who missed the Monday vote, has indicated his support for the tax.
The city receives around $2.5 million per year from the state grocery tax, and 56% percent of taxed sales from Evanston’s eight grocery stores are from non-residents, according to city staff. Since July 31, over 425 municipalities have adopted similar city grocery tax policies.
Biss called the tax “deeply, deeply regressive” — meaning that it burdens lower-income shoppers most — and said he favored raising property taxes at an August City Council meeting. Biss continued that line of reasoning in his emailed announcement Wednesday, calling the grocery tax “the single most regressive option available to us.”
“With food prices already at historic highs, adding an additional tax on groceries would not only deepen the economic pain for local families, it would be fundamentally unfair,” Biss wrote in the statement.
The city has not raised property taxes since 2021. Alds. Clare Kelly (1st) and Matt Rodgers (8th), who also opposed the grocery tax, have instead shown support for increasing the city’s home rule sales tax by 0.25%. The tax would not apply to essentials like groceries, drugs or licensed vehicles.
Ald. Thomas Suffredin (6th) defended the city grocery tax and criticized Biss’ veto in his 6th Ward newsletter Thursday afternoon.
The required increase to Evanston’s property tax levy would result in an approximately $78 increase for a $400,000 home — around the median home value in the city — compared to an estimated $66 per year tax on Evanston households through the grocery tax, Suffredin wrote. He added that he believed the home rule sales tax increase lacked the council’s support.
“While no one wants to see this tax continued, we face the challenge of replacing lost revenue to maintain essential services,” he wrote. “Eliminating this revenue source now would only make an already difficult situation worse.”
City Council will have the opportunity to override the veto at a Sept. 29 meeting. Replacement city grocery taxes must be passed and sent to the Illinois Department of Revenue before the state’s Oct. 1 deadline.
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