Sen. John Curran | Facebook
Sen. John Curran | Facebook
Sen. John Curran (R-Lemont) and other Senate Republicans are voicing their concerns about the increasing gas prices impacting drivers in their states.
They all pointed out the state’s gas tax.
“There are some proposals floating around on some temporary relief at the pump and pauses on our fuel tax,” Curran said. “The balance there is, we have to couple that with ... great infrastructure needs. Right now, people are hurting at the pump."
Senate Republicans have introduced Senate Bill 4195, which would immediately cap the state’s sales tax on motor fuel at 18 cents per gallon, according to state Sen. Don DeWitte’s office. This measure would save Illinois taxpayers almost $1 billion during the next fiscal year.
“Currently, Illinoisans are paying about 25 cents per gallon in sales tax but could easily soon be paying up to 34 cents if gas prices hit $5.50 per gallon,” said in a release from Sen. DeWitte’s (West Dundee) website.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported U.S. motorists are paying on average 15% in taxes at the pump.
“We really don’t think that there’s a huge need in the state of Illinois to be sending more money to local government or allowing local government to tax more than they already are because they’re already getting a huge cut of the revenue that’s already out there,” Josh Sharp, president and CEO of the Illinois Fuel and Retail Association, said on Illinois Policy’s website.
AAA reported the average price of a regular gallon of gas in Illinois is $4.547 as of March 16 up from $3.088 one year ago. The national average cost is $4.305.
Illinois Policy reported Illinoisans pay the second-highest gas tax in the country. In 2019, Gov. J.B. Pritzker doubled the state gas tax from 19 cents to 38 cents.
A 2021 report from the Tax Foundation found that Illinoisans pay the second-highest property tax rate in the country, second only to New Jersey. The Tax Foundation noted that both Illinois and New Jersey “impose high property taxes alongside high rates in the other major tax categories.”
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