When Illinois passed House Bill 3659 (the state’s affiliate nexus tax bill), great hoopla was splattered about evening the playing field, protecting the little mom-and-pop stores from those no-tax paying bastards.  Amazon said repeatedly that if the bill passed, they would yank their Illinois affiliates, just as they’d done in other states.  But Illinois politicians felt they were immune. Bill co-sponsor Senator John Cullerton anticipated the new tax would generate an additional $150 million in revenues. My personal belief is that he was more heavily influenced by the $$$ and ads that that Main Street “fairness” organization tossed around. As the Chicagoist reported last month, the reality is what pretty much what we lowly wage-earners expected:  Rocks.

From January through June 2011 (before the law went into effect) the Illinois Department of Revenue collected approximately $139 million in use tax.  During the last six months of 2011, Illinois collected $127 million. Yes indeedy, Illinois collected less money after the affiliate nexus tax went into effect.  And this last six months would include the entire holiday shopping period!

Well, duh.  And yet another example of the laws passed by those shining stars we call our politicians.  aka pre-felons…