A gas tax increase planned for July has been moved to next January. | Yassine Khalfalli/Unsplash
A gas tax increase planned for July has been moved to next January. | Yassine Khalfalli/Unsplash
Rep. Amy Grant (R-DuPage) attacked Democrats for their delay of the gas tax increase planned for July, which was moved to next January. The Illinois Fuel & Retail Association intends to sue in regards to the sticker mandate.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-Ill.) doubled Illinois' gas tax from 19 cents to 38 cents in 2019, according to Fox News. He also instituted an annual gas tax increase.
"Illinois Democrats should be addressing the structural issues that have caused our state to have the highest effective tax rates in the nation, rather than expecting accolades for a six-month pause on the gas tax increase," Grant said in a late-April Facebook post.
Democrats recently supported legislation that will delay this year's planned gas tax increase of 2.2 cents from this July to January 2023, Fox News reported. The bill will mandate that gas stations have to put stickers on gas pumps, letting Illinoisans know about the postponement. Gas stations will be fined $500 dollars per day if they do not show the stickers.
Josh Sharp, CEO of the Illinois Fuel & Retail Association, called the mandatory stickers "free election-year advertising for the governor."
"You can’t force businesses in Illinois, or in any state, to participate in speech they disagree with or that they don’t want to participate in," Sharp told WEEK-TV. "... This whole ploy to force our members into posting these signs just shows you how scared some in Springfield are, and some of those that are running statewide in November are for perhaps being blamed for those high gas prices. And frankly, they should be blamed."
The gas tax hike delay is part of a group of tax rebates and delays in the record $46.5 billion Fiscal Year 23 budget, according to Illinois Policy. The tax rebates and delays will save the average Illinois family $556. The 2.2-cent increase to the gas tax will become effective in January 2023 and will be followed by another hike in July 2023. The second increase will likely be 3.8 cents per gallon, bringing Illinois' total gasoline tax up to 45.2 cents per gallon, Illinois Policy reported.
Alerts Sign-up