Lake Bluff officials discuss possible local grocery sales tax

With the state’s version of a grocery tax set to expire soon, whether Lake Bluff will join many of its neighboring communities in adopting its own version of the tax is uncertain following a recent discussion of the village board’s finance committee.

Lake Bluff’s finance committee briefly discussed a staff recommendation to implement a local version of the grocery sales tax at its Aug. 25 meeting. Communities throughout the state are facing the same decision following the State of Illinois’ repeal of the statewide grocery tax effective Jan. 1, 2026.

While the state collects the grocery tax funds, revenues are then distributed to the individual municipalities. With the state removing its tax, many communities throughout Illinois are applying a local version of the tax to maintain the reve