Rep. Amy Grant aims to limit parking garage taxes

State Rep. Amy Grant (R-Wheaton) believes state lawmakers erred when they included public parking garages in the myriad of new taxes and fees being imposed on motorists.

Several suburban communities in and around the 42nd District would be negatively affected by the new Parking Excise Tax Act. So Grant partnered with Wheaton Mayor Phil Suess to outline new legislation that would exempt parking areas or garages owned or operated by a municipality, county or township from the recently-enacted parking fee.

“High taxes are driving people out of Illinois and toward more taxpayer-friendly states,” Grant said. “It’s one thing to tax commercial for-profit parking amenities, which are small businesses, but we should not be levying fees from public parking areas--especially given that they likely were constructed using taxpayer money.”

“In addition to much needed pension reform, business growth is our best avenue to reversing our state’s financial crisis. So we shouldn’t discourage people from patronizing our businesses that require use of public parking garages by imposing yet another tax on them.”

Suess sought out Grant’s assistance because the excise tax would negatively impact the city’s residents and potentially the downtown businesses.

“This legislation is important to the City of Wheaton because it would close a loophole that would otherwise unfairly tax our residents,” Mayor Suess said. “The purpose of our parking facilities is not for the city to make money; rather, the fees we collect pay for the upkeep of these facilities. This is not the same as a for-profit or private garage, and the law needs to exempt municipally-owned or -leased facilities.”

“I appreciate Representative Grant’s work on making sure that the state’s excise tax does not apply to city-owned or leased parking.”