Every August, Sandy Fulgenzi shuts down the restaurant she owns with her husband John and stands along Sangamon Avenue waving a flag trying to get folks to pay to park in their parking lot.
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Every August, Sandy Fulgenzi shuts down the restaurant she owns with her husband John and stands along Sangamon Avenue waving a flag trying to get folks to pay to park in their parking lot.
She mans the parking lot for 14 hours a day during the 10 days of the State Fair. She does it because it is the only revenue they have coming in during that time.
Now state government is going to make life just a little more difficult for the pair of 72-year-olds. In 2020, it will impose a new parking tax.
“When the State Fair is going on no one wants to deal with the traffic and eat here. We’ve tried to stay open and it just doesn’t work,” Sandy said with a sigh.
The Fulgenzis have owned their small restaurant on Springfield’s north end for 40 years. Like any small business, it can be a trying experience.
“I always say, if I ever win the lottery, I’m going to buy the 10 people I like the least restaurants. I can’t think of a better way to get even,” John said with a smile.
He is perplexed by why the state is targeting parking for higher taxes.
“We already pay income taxes on all the money we bring in and we pay property taxes. Now they want us to pay a parking tax?”
The state is taxing parking to pay for non-transportation related infrastructure.
Under the new law, the tax is 9 percent on spaces that are rented by the month or by the year.
A tax of 6 percent is applied to spaces that are paid for on an hourly, daily or weekly basis.