Chicago-Area Sam’s Clubs Must Pay $310 Million Tobacco Tax Bill

Eleven Sam’s Club stores in the Chicago area should have paid Cook County tobacco tax when selling cigarettes to out-of-county retailers, an Illinois appeals court ruled in an opinion posted Monday.

“Under the plain language, Sam’s Club, as a wholesale tobacco dealer, was required to collect the tax from ‘Purchasers,’ which encompasses in the ‘including but not limited’ language the out-of-county retailers when it sold to them in Cook County,” Justice Michael B. Hyman wrote for the Illinois Appellate Court, First District.

The county assessed over $314 million, including tobacco tax, penalties, and interest, for the stores’ sales to out-of-county ...