But the tax man may decide to take more of his share at the cash register rather than through bills that come in the mail. The local sales tax could well become the tax of the new millennium, soon surpassing property and income taxes in statewide totals. It's already happening. In 1998, sales and income tax collections surpassed property tax revenue for the second consecutive year.
Observers expect that trend to continue.
Sales taxes are easier to implement, generate more money and seem to be preferred by voters who have historically snarled at the prospect of higher annual property tax bills. A sales tax is basically a consumption tax. At the dawn of 2000, many Illinois counties and cities are now wielding new taxing powers that are likely to make the sales tax the fund-raiser of choice for building projects. Throughout the 1990s, communities with limited revenue sources looked to sales taxes as a reliable money maker when property tax increases looked doubtful and utility taxes were coolly received. The law allows taxes to increase by either 0.5 percent or 0.25 percent.