BOMA works to stop tax legislation
After months of lobbying, the Building Owners and Managers Association of Suburban Chicago, the voice of the commercial real estate industry, says it was successful in stopping harmful tax legislation.
Schaumburg-based BOMA/Suburban Chicago and other industry-related organizations fought taxes related to commercial buildings. The taxes were removed, ultimately, resulting in the state House budgeteers scrapping a sales tax expansion provision and saving potential increase costs of 3-5 cents per square foot on commercial buildings, BOMA officials said.
The proposed legislation would have expanded the sales tax base by imposing a 6.25 percent excise tax on eight service categories: use of storage space, including parking garages and boat docks; repairs and maintenance of personal property, such as cars; landscaping services such as sprinkler installation and snow removal; dry-cleaning; cable TV, satellite and digital streaming services; pest control; use of a private detective or installation of a home security system; and personal care, ranging from tanning to tattooing but not including hairstyling.