Senior Sales Tax Relief Proposals

At a glance

• What: Two proposals to ease taxes for people 65 and older were introduced in September 2026.
• Senior citizen tax holiday: Lopez's ordinance O2026-0027485 would exempt purchases by city residents aged 65 or older at businesses subject to city taxation from the Retailer's Occupation Tax from September 1 through December 24, 2026 (the title calls it a "property tax holiday"). Introduced September 23 and referred to the Committee on Finance.
• Checkout bag tax: Mitts and Harris proposed on September 29 to exempt checkout bags used or purchased by anyone 65 or older from the checkout bag tax (Section 3-50-110) and let wholesalers keep the one-cent-per-bag credit, with the remaining fourteen cents per bag remitted to the Department of Finance. Referred to the Committee on the Budget and Government Operations.

Sources

• City Council journal, September 23, 2026, Volume II: https://chicityclerk.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public-1/reports/2026_09_23%20Journal%20of%20the%20Proceedings%20Vol.%20II.pdf
• City Council journal, September 29, 2026: https://chicityclerk.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public-1/reports/2026_09_29%20Journal%20of%20the%20Proceedings.pdf

Log

2026-09-29 - City Council

Bag tax exemption introduced and referred (O2026-0029061).

2026-09-23 - City Council

Tax holiday introduced and referred.