I've tried this too:
If Me.cboRate = Rate1 Then Me.txtCost = DLookup("Rate1", "tblItem", "ItemID=" & ItemID)
If Me.cboRate = Rate2 Then Me.txtCost = DLookup("Rate2", "tblItem", "ItemID=" & ItemID)
If Me.cboRate = Rate3 Then Me.txtCost = DLookup("Rate3", "tblItem", "ItemID=" & ItemID)