Wilmette Passes 1% Grocery Tax

WILMETTE, IL — The Wilmette Village Board voted to implement a 1 percent grocery tax on Thursday, joining neighboring municipalities in the Chicagoland to implement a local tax.

Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation that got rid of the state's grocery tax earlier this year, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2026. According to Wilmette officials, without the tax, the village stands to lose $600,000 in funding without the tax.

The law allows local municipalities to implement their own grocery taxes, and in fact 36 out of 43 communities in the Northwest Municipal Conference have implemented a replacement tax. In Wilmette, the Village Board was weighing their options between also adopting a grocery tax, or instead implementing a property tax to make up the projected loss.

"Municipalities are facing this very difficult issue right now, when the state took $325 million that municipalities now all of a sudden had to figure out how they were going to pay for it." Village President Senta Plunkett said at the meeting.

Wilmette residents have expressed their opposition for the tax, saying that it is regressive and would disproportionately affect lower income residents. More than 70 letters were sent in from community members.

"Nothing is more regressive than a tax on an essential product that everybody has to buy. That, for a so-called 'family-friendly suburb' is not a good look," community group Unfence Gillson wrote in a statement.

At the meeting, Trustee Gina Kennedy remarked that while the community seemed overwhelmingly united in its stance against the tax, the board seemed to be ignoring that.

The Board voted 4-2 in favor of implementing the tax, with Trustees Kennedy and Steen voting against. The deadline is Oct. 1 for the village to file the ordinance with the state for the local tax to go into effect on Jan. 1.