Illinois’ record-high fuel prices mean consumers pay more for everyday items. Pritzker’s 2019 doubling of gas, diesel, and natural gas taxes are partly to blame.
Since taking office, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has passed 24 tax and fee hikes worth $5.24 billion. Of that, $650 million directly targeted businesses as they fought through a pandemic economy.
Illinois gas taxes are driving extra pain at the pump, especially for Chicago residents.
Fiscal watchdog Truth in Accounting reports every Chicagoan is on the hook for $135,700 when combining city and state debt.
The Cook County Board of Commissioners voted May 24 to increase its members’ salaries 10% in December, followed by automatic annual pay increases each year up to 3%. Civic groups say the perpetual pay hikes pose future concern.
Rising gas prices show no sign of stopping. Average gas prices in Illinois are more than $5 a gallon, thanks in part to the nation’s second-highest motor fuel tax.
Cook County officials promised to make the nation’s now-largest publicly-funded guaranteed income experiment permanent May 18 shortly after introducing the initiative. The trial will start accepting applicants in the fall.
For Illinois border resident Brett Retherford and his neighbors, high Illinois fuel taxes drive them to buy their gasoline in Iowa. Illinois politicians’ heavy demands lose them hoped-for taxes when drivers have a choice.
Millions of motorists will hit the road this Memorial Day weekend, an unfriendly reminder of skyrocketing gas prices. Illinoisans specifically pay the most for gas in the Midwest.
"This state is so wasteful and broken, and it just feels like politicians don’t care about us.”
Illinois has 6,032 local governments, the most in the nation by a wide margin – and that excludes 859 school districts. It’s the main reason Illinoisans pay the nation’s second-highest property taxes.
Illinois is one of the states that taxes diapers, costing a family about $120 a year. Gov. J.B. Pritzker and 32 other governors are being asked to dispose of their diaper taxes.
The second-highest motor fuel tax in the nation keeps Illinois’ gas prices the highest in the Midwest. Diesel hits a record as the average gas price moves close to a record.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s campaign gimmick to delay his next gas tax increase assumes Illinois drivers have a short memory. One working mom says her $72 fill-up is a regular reminder of just how many taxes Pritzker has imposed.