By Greg Bishop/Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – Your neighbors are likely driving out of state for something other than jobs or lower taxes. They’re probably picking up some fireworks before heading home as well.
You might be able to get snakes and sparklers in Illinois, but the big stuff that rockets into the sky with magnificent color and sound is off-limits to consumers in the Land of Lincoln.
After Iowa’s governor signed a measure last month to allow consumer fireworks sales during certain periods of the year, Illinois is now completely surrounded by states that allow all or some types of consumer fireworks sales.
Karen Vale owns K C Fireworks in Kentland, Indiana, just a few miles from the Illinois border. She said they get a lot of Illinois customers, some who drive hours to buy aerial and ground effects fireworks.
“We’ll ask them, ‘Well, what part of Illinois are you from?’ So when we find them on the map, it’s really quite interesting to see how far people actually drive over to purchase fireworks,” Vale said.
She said they have regular customers and some drive hours from Illinois to get fireworks.
State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, has been pushing for Illinois to legalize fireworks for some time.
“First and foremost, there’s a liberty element to this,” Rose said. “It doesn’t take a lot to think about the fact that the entire country was founded on being free by these kinds of oppressive overreaches by governments.”
It’s also about economics, Rose said.
“There’s a significant jobs argument to be made on what could be a potentially $100 million industry for the state and moreover from that, there’d be additional cash flow for the state’s coffers that we could certainly use right now,” he said.
Rose estimates the state could generate up to $15 million annually in new revenue if consumer fireworks were legalized and taxed in Illinois.
“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to save the state of Illinois from the budget calamity it’s in, but … right now we can’t afford to give up anything,” Rose said.
Rose said he’s proposed having some of the additional revenue that could be generated from taxing fireworks sales to help enhance fire and EMS services, especially in rural areas.
Ultimately, Rose said this is just another in the long list of things Illinois does wrong that sends economic activity to neighboring states.
“It’s maddening and frustrating as you watch Illinois citizens continue to leave Illinois for all sorts of things in Indiana that come with less taxes or, in this instance, not even legal in Illinois,” he said.
Just how much business is Illinois losing out on? If consumer fireworks were ever legal in Illinois, Vale said her business would likely fizzle out.
“That would take quite a bit of my business, so it would make me really consider if I want to keep it going or not,” Vale said.
Rose said that shows the kind of impact something like fireworks legalization would have.
“She could probably put up a stand in Illinois, frankly, for once we could bring business in Illinois,” Rose said. “For the most part, this isn’t a large mega-national corporation thing. It’s a bunch of ‘mom and pops’ out there trying to earn enough money for their kids to go to college. It’s basically real people with real lives trying to make a couple extra bucks.”
