Amazon will start collecting sales tax from Illinois consumers next month to comply with a new state law, the company said.

The Seattle-based e-commerce giant will be required to collect the 6.25% tax starting Feb. 1….

And

State retailers supported the legislation to level the playing field for brick-and-mortar businesses.

Foolish. The better way to level the playing field, the more economically efficient way, the way that actually would raise revenue for the verge-of-bankrupt Illinois government would have been to lower the sales tax charged to Illinois brick-and-mortar retailers. After all,

The Illinois Department of Revenue estimated uncollected taxes in 2013 from online purchases from Amazon and other retailers at $212 million.

Think about the effect on Illinois’ brokeness from withdrawing an additional $212 million from its economy.

Illinois collected $12.77 billion in sales tax in 2013 from a sales tax rate of 6.25%. Think about the boost to Illinois’ economy from a drop in the state’s rate of just one per centage point to 5.25%, which would leave a skosh over $2 billion in the hands of Illinois’ citizens.

But this is Illinois.