Crain’s Chicago Business has a story about a coalition of business and trade groups – including IAR – mobilizing a fight against a proposed ad tax. Quoted in the article is IAR President Jim Kinney, who says IAR is supportive of an effort to solve the state’s fiscal crisis but the ad tax idea is not a good way to go about it.

The IAR is one of several groups opposed to the concept, including the Illinois Automobile Dealers Association, the Illinois Press Association, the Outdoor Advertising Association of Illinois and the Motion Picture Association of America. This coalition created a website to fight the proposal and seven members of the press association have published editorials against it.

In the Crain’s article, Christopher Mooney, director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois predicts that Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislative leaders will propose and pass legislation that establishes an advertising tax. He thinks they will present it to voters as something that must be done to raise revenue.