Preliminary findings from a new report hint that the impact of rising sales tax rates on retail sales in Cook County might well depend on three factors: location, location, location. The report is the work of DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development and Economic Research. The report suggests that the sales tax increase has a greater impact on communities located near the county line than they did for the rest of the county. Those communities last year experienced a 5.7 drop in retail sales. That’s compared with a 4.1 drop for the county as whole. One of the study’s co-authors, Joseph Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development and Economic Research explains the research.