PEORIA, Ill. (From WMBD-TV) — Some state lawmakers are hoping to pass a bill to bring “no tax on tips” to Illinois after it decided to not enact the federal policy.
The Big Beautiful Law, passed by congressional Republicans, signed into federal law “no tax on tips.” Despite the name, it didn’t eliminate all taxes on tips, but allowed qualified groups to deduct up to $25,000 from their gross income.
State Rep. Ryan Spain filed similar legislation in March last year to get Illinois to do the same thing. However, his proposal never made it to committee.
On top of that, Illinois decided to remove itself from some federal tax policies, which included no tax on tips. The Peoria Republican said Democrats shouldn’t get in the way of a good idea.
“Just because Donald Trump put an initiative forward to have no tax on tips and no taxes on overtime doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea,” he said. “We have to get past this notion that if our political enemy comes up with an idea, we’re going to do everything we can to oppose it.”
This comes as state Rep. Anthony DeLuca, a Chicago Heights Democrat, has filed a similar proposal at the turn of the new year.
In a Facebook post, he said both Trump and former Vice President Kamala Harris voiced their support on no tax on tips during the campaign.
“In a time of rising costs, this measure would make a real difference in helping working families addressing affordability, skyrocketing property taxes and more,” he said.
Spain said he would support DeLuca as he has “no pride of authorship on good ideas,” criticizing Gov. JB Pritzker for blocking the federal measure in the first place.
“That’s not leadership. That’s catering to the wild fringes of politics, and it’s not appropriate,” he said.
Lawmakers could talk about these plans while in session over the coming weeks. However, even if it received a bipartisan majority, it would still need 60 Democrat votes to pass the Illinois House, due to an arbitrary rule set by the House Speaker.