PEORIA HEIGHTS, Ill. – The mayor of Peoria Heights says a planned veto of a recently passed grocery tax is to help give the village an advantage.
Matt Wigginton is planning to veto the one percent tax at Tuesday night’s meeting of Trustees, after it was passed earlier this month. The tax aims to replace an expiring similar state tax at the end of the year.
He tells WMBD’s “The Phil Luciano Show” that the village will soon need help with its only grocery store, Save-A-Lot, planning on not renewing its lease.
“If I can make grocery stores 1% more profitable, then, they’re already on tight margins. So, if I could bring them in by making it more attractive than my neighboring communities, it just gives me a competitive advantage,” Wigginton said.
Wigginton says the veto will help low-income families get groceries cheaper, and it delivers on a campaign promise to not raise taxes on groceries.
Wigginton estimates that Save-A-Lot brings in around $138,000 each year in grocery tax revenue. But he notes the village has gone without it before.
“When Gov. Pritzker, in the middle of COVID, put a moratorium on that tax for a year; the Heights not only survived, but thrived,” Wigginton said.
Wigginton says Trustees could override his veto, but has reached out to all of them about his intentions.
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