COLLINSVILLE, Ill. – Illinois’ gas tax will hit 47 cents per gallon. It will be the second-highest in the nation.
Only California charges drivers more, at 60 cents per gallon. But in Illinois, the tax just went from 45 cents per gallon to 47.
This means the average driver in Illinois will now pay 184 dollars more in gas taxes each year compared to before 2019, when Governor J.B. Pritzker doubled the tax. Before 2019, the state had a 19-cent per-gallon gas tax.
This increase is part of Governor Pritzker’s “Rebuild Illinois” capital plan. It aims to invest nearly 45 billion dollars over six years to fix roads, bridges, and other transportation infrastructure.
Bryce Hill is the director of fiscal and economic research at the Illinois Policy Institute. He says these increases disproportionately affect middle- and lower-income families, as they dedicate a greater share of their household budgets to gasoline.
“Illinoisans were already overburdened with heavy gas taxes before this latest hike and now it will be more costly for the tens of millions of Illinoisans expected to take to the roads this summer,” Hill says. “These tax increases continue to damage our quality of life and make Illinois an expensive place to live.”
Overall, Illinois has the seventh-most expensive retail gas price in the nation.
Electric vehicle owners pay a $100 fee every year, on top of their annual registration fee, to make up for lost gas tax revenue.