Chicago Gears Up to Tax Cigars and Chewing Tobacco

Chicago will begin collecting a tax on cigars, chewing tobacco, and roll-your-own tobacco “as quickly as possible,” after a state appeals court ended two years of legal limbo and upheld the tax, a city spokesperson told Bloomberg Tax Dec. 26.

Chicago’s Department of Finance will begin contacting retailers shortly about their collection duties under the Other Tobacco Products Tax Ordinance (OTP), enacted on March 16, 2016. Collections under the ordinance were scheduled to begin on July 1, 2016, but the entire tax regime was placed on hold while tobacco retailers and trade groups sued the city.

Buoyed by a supportive ...