Tax Free Weekend in Illinois?

It has almost become a tradition around this time of year - Tax Free Holiday. A way to save money on those "back to school" items on (or around) the first weekend in August.

Those of us in the Tri-State area that want to save money that way will have to go to Missouri or Iowa. Click here to see a list of all of the states participating.

Illinois does not participate in the Tax Free Weekend, and has not since 2010. According to a 2011 news report, the reason given was that there were too many unpaid bills. Although there were also too many unpaid bills in 2010, a couple of newspaper editorials discuss how 2010 was an election year. State senator Toi Hutchinson was quoted as saying “Sometimes you do things for political reasons that are not good public policy reasons.".

If you live in Illinois, are you going to travel out of state to get bargains? Do you think it is important that Illinois gives its residents the opportunity to save some money in time for back to school? Share your comments below.