Palos Park, another Chicago suburb might tax residents’ groceries

Palos Park residents have a chance to save 1% on groceries starting in 2026, but the City Council is considering taking that away and taxing groceries. A series of towns are considering a local grocery tax.

Another Illinois town is thinking about adding a 1% grocery tax after the statewide one expires: Palos Park City Council members will discuss imposing a local grocery tax at their Nov. 11 meeting.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and state lawmakers repealed the 1% state grocery tax but gave local governments the option to bring it back in 2026. Some communities around Illinois have already imposed a local tax.

Palos Park shoppers could save $400,000 a year. For a family of four, the tax means more than $320 a year on their grocery bill.

Illinois is the only state among the 10 most populated with a grocery tax. But the statewide tax exclusively went to local government budgets, so those governments now must choose between taxing residents’ need to eat or finding a way to operate efficiently without the revenue.

If the tax were to pass, Palos Park residents could simply go one town over to a municipality with no grocery tax.

Illinois is one of only 13 states with a grocery tax. Pritzker on Oct. 6 said hitting people at the grocery store was one of the most regressive ways to tax people.

“It was the most regressive tax you could possibly have, taxing people on food,” Pritzker said. “Wealthy people, middle-class people can afford to go to the grocery store and pay 1%. Everybody else, it’s hard. That’s one of the reasons I went after it.”

Pritzker also called the statewide grocery tax “kind of embarrassing.” So far, Highland, Martinsville and Central City have passed local grocery taxes. Suburban River Forest leaders are considering the tax, while neighboring Oak Park has rejected it.

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