How much will your community save from Illinois grocery tax repeal?

Illinois is doing away with the statewide grocery tax. Look below to see how much taxpayers in your town or county will save when the tax goes away in 2026 – unless local leaders decide to keep it.

How much will you and your neighbors save at your local grocery store once the statewide grocery tax ends?

Use the searchable table below to see how much your town or county will save once the grocery tax is repealed in 2026.

Grocery shoppers statewide spent nearly $300 million in 2023, meaning that is roughly what they will save when the tax ends Jan. 1, 2026 – unless local leaders decide to keep it going.

These numbers are based on the 2023 calendar year tax revenue for local governments from the grocery tax, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue.

Some local governments are looking to implement a grocery tax at the local level instead of having people get the extra 1% savings on groceries. The state law ending the tax gave communities the option to reinstate the tax without voter approval.

Inflation has been unkind to the average family of four.

Buying what the U.S. Department of Agriculture defines as a “low-budget meal plan” in January 2020 would have cost them $858 a month. Inflation by May 2024 boosted that to $1,064.

That’s $2,473 more per year in a four-year span. That same shopping list during the prior 10 years rose less than half that amount – $1,164 a year.

Local grocery taxes could simply incentivize shoppers to go one town over, leaving local governments with even less revenue. Shoppers currently must drive across the state line to dodge the grocery tax.

There are 37 states that don’t tax groceries. Illinois is the only one of the 10 most populous with a grocery tax. Local governments in those states get by just fine.