Sam’s Club, Cook County Settle Tobacco Tax Case at Top Court (1)

Eleven Sam’s Club stores in the Chicago area reached a settlement with Cook County over tobacco tax on cigarettes sold to out-of-county retailers, the parties told the Illinois Supreme Court.

The county assessed over $314 million, including tobacco tax, penalties, and interest, for the stores’ sales to out-of-county retailers from 2009-2016. The county’s ordinance imposes a use tax on “all cigarettes possessed for sale and upon the use of all cigarettes within the County of Cook, the ultimate incidence of and liability for payment of said tax to be borne by the consumer of said cigarettes.”

• Sam’s Club argued that ...