CHICAGO, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Some Chicago-area communities, concerned about low sales tax revenues, are temporarily banning bank branches from locating in shopping districts.
The problem is these banks don't generate much sales tax and more and more of them are locating in places that are perfect for stores and restaurants -- the types of businesses that do generate sales tax revenue, the Chicago Tribune said Friday.
Many suburbs are looking to Lake Forest as an example. The city used a 90-day ban on new downtown bank branches and other non-retail businesses last summer to tweak its zoning code and gain considerable negotiating leverage.
In suburbs such as South Elgin and Highland Park, officials are trying to figure out how to prevent banks from displacing their sales-tax base amid an explosion in bank branches. In Cook County, the number of commercial bank branches jumped 74 percent, to 1,042 outlets, in the last decade.
Even in Chicago some officials said they worry about having too many banks.
