So today I go shopping at the local grocery store by my house and pick up a 59 oz Simply Lemonade (and other items) because my daughter likes to drink it. I have a habit of scanning the receipt after checkout and I notice a $.59 county beverage tax charge on there. I thought "Wtf is this?" and went on my merry way. Googled it when I got home and found out that Crook county instituted a one penny per fluid oz on sugary drinks beverage tax. How fucking low can they go?

I live on the Cook/Dupage border (Dupage is 3 mins away) and will be doing all my grocery shopping in Dupage from here on out. I'm not trying to punish my local grocery store (which I really like), but fuck giving this POS county any more of my tax dollars, regardless of whether I'm buying the occasional sugary drink. I really, really, really hope the cunty feels the sting from the loss of tax revenue on a widespread scale. BTW, I also purchased some apple juice and there was no extra tax on that, so there must be some exceptions. But lemonade? Gimme a f'n break!

100% fruit juice is exempt, but if there is any sweetener in it, it gets the tax.   And sweetener is not just sugar, so things like Stevia, Aspartame, Sucralose, etc fall into the tax whether it has calories or not.

We live 5 mins from Will County.
All soda and juice boxes for the kids will be purchased there.

We like to shop at Walts. They have a location in Will county that gets all our business now.

People are freaking out in the stores at the employees like they are the ones charging them more.

If the beverage distributors, including the alcohol distributors, (not affected), got together and decided they wouldn't deliver to Crook County until this tax was rescinded, it would be gone in a week.  It seems retailers and businesses are the ones taking the grief, when Preckwinkle and her cronies should be.  It's my understanding, that the county wanted to sue the merchants assoc., that filed the lawsuit, to get the tax delayed.  What a bunch of scumbags.  

If they want to solve the county economic problems, dump Cook Co. hospital first, then cut the top half of salaried and union employee wages/benefits, and them dump a bunch of uneccessary patronage employees completely.

The beverage or alcohol distributors couldnt afford to not deal in Cook Co. There is a Pepsi plant in Aurora, Coke in St.Charles. Those 2 plants are now delivering mad volume compared to the Alsips facilities.

Doesn`t anybody here watch the news on TV or read a newspaper (yes they still exist), this has been talked about in the news including all the lawsuits.

I'll be driving to Indiana to buy my soda. I'll get some gas while I'm there, so the money spent on gas will be saved on the lower gas price.

Pop tax lands Cook in hot water with the feds

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20170810/BLOGS02/170819977/cook-county-pop-tax-under-fire-from-agriculture-department


August 10, 2017
Pop tax lands Cook in hot water with the feds

GREG HINZ ON POLITICS

Cook County's embattled soda pop tax now has a new opponent: the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The agency is threatening to withhold nearly $87 million in state funding unless the county immediately alters the illegal manner in which the penny-an-ounce levy has been implemented.

In letter to the state and a phone call to the county, the U.S. Department of Agriculture objected to how the tax is applied to purchases using food stamps, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

"The state must take immediate steps to address Cook County compliance in this area," detailing how the levy will be adjusted and confirming that no taxes will be collected in the interim. "If the response is inadequate, (the department) could suspend federal funding of state administrative expenses."

A letter dated yesterday from the Illinois Department of Human Services tells the county that $86.8 million a year is at stake.

Oh SNAP... how appropriate.

Drove to Indiana last night to stock up on soda. I grabbed some alcohol, groceries, filled up the tank, and ammo from Cabela's while I was there. Anything to not give Crook Co and the City any more of my money.

Does the tax apply to drinks at sit down and fast food restaurants?  Do they just tax the cup size if it is free refills or self serve?

This is where it becomes even more insane. Yes, the tax applies to drinks in restaurants. They charge you the tax based on the size of the cup. They don't consider the fact that some places fill up half the cup with ice. Free refills should be gone.