Tariff concerns drive new car sales, lead to record sales tax revenue in La Salle County cities

Know anybody who’s bought a new car this year? Worries over tariffs helped give auto sales a boost and, along the way, helped a few cities begin the year with sales records.

The Illinois Department of Revenue recently released the first batch of 2025 sales data and each of the cities monitored enjoyed a strong start retail sales. La Salle, Peru, Ottawa, Mendota and Oglesby all notched same-month records in January.

The record-breaking sums include all retail activity and revenue doesn’t release line-item data that would allow city officials to pinpoint where the economy soared. But a few auto dealerships confirmed a lively start to their sales goals.

Bill Walsh Jr., president of the Bill Walsh Auto Group, said first-quarter sales (except February) ranged from “strong” to “exceptionally strong.”

“In our analysis at month end for March,” Walsh said, “it looks to be a combination of spring buying season, spring break timing, pre-tariff purchasing, a better incentive environment, which included some low interest rate on extended terms and a better lease landscape on certain models.”

Tom Prescott, owner of Prescott Brothers, had similar observations. January sales enjoyed a modest uptick – “There usually is a bump after (Election Day)” – but tariff worries weren’t much on buyer’s minds at New Year’s. Instead, tariffs caught the attention of buyers in March.

“Then the tariff talk was real,” he said. “There was a hell of lot more of a bump in March than in January, as far as retail car sales.”

All of which seems to have boosted retail sales in the cities with car dealerships. Though retail sales figures only are available through Jan. 31, most of the municipalities tracked by Shaw Media enjoyed strong sales and several posted same-month records.

Ottawa recorded a city-share of nearly $636,000, which beat the January record by 13%. Peru brought in $614,000, beating its January record by 6%.

Mendota blasted past its January record en route to nearly $195,000, which is more than Mendota recorded in the Christmas shopping season. City clerk Emily McConville said she inquired of the business community and was told auto sales led the charge.

Why did the January totals all surge? Was there a post-Christmas buying spree? Not necessarily.

John Duncan IV is the finance director for the city of La Salle. He did a deep dive into the retail numbers and found that most of the January increase was because of a change in the way the Illinois Department of Revenue computes its sales totals.

Under a new law (Public Act 103-0983) that took effect Jan. 1, all retail sales originating from outside of Illinois and made to Illinois customers by retailers with physical presence nexus with Illinois are now subject to destination-based retailers’ occupation tax rather than use tax.

“In short,” Duncan explained, “online orders from places like US Car Parts (aka JC Whitney) are now paying through ‘sales tax’ to La Salle based on their jurisdiction rather than paying ‘use tax’ which was being allocated based on population.”

So, no, it wasn’t necessarily a big post-Christmas sales rush that led to the record January totals.

But pre-tariff spending is real.

Don Finley is vice president of store operations for John’s Service and Sales in Oglesby, which also posted a sales record. Finely confirmed that January sales had risen and shoppers have, of late, disclosed they are wary of price increases as tariffs are levied.

“Over the last three or four weeks I’ve had people coming in looking to redo their kitchens before tariffs are going to hit, thinking the prices are going to rise,” Finley said. “You can definitely tell people will feel the crunch and are looking to save money where they can.”