SPRINGFIELD – As part of Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s attempt to balance the state budget, the new gas tax increase begins July 1, 2019 and will put Illinois in the top five for the highest total gasoline taxes. All taxes combined will be 73 cents per gallon. The price motorists pay at the pump for gasoline would double from 19 cents to 38 cents per gallon under legislation the Illinois House has adopted.
The Illinois House voted 83-29 this past Saturday night to increase the motor fuel tax to pay for upgrades to roads, bridges, public transit, railroads and other improvements. According to some analysts, it would produce more than $1 billion next year—or will it? The biggest winner in this gas tax increase will be the bordering states of Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri and Indiana.
“Illinois is going from one of the lower gas taxes in the region to one of the highest,” stated Patrick Dehaan, founder of GasBuddy.com. “These taxes may also force hundreds of Illinois convenience stores in Illinois to close, according to industry advocates, costing potentially thousands of jobs and creating a glut of empty buildings.
Other cities and counties also have the option to raise the gas tax even more. Cities in Cook County also have the option to raise gas taxes by an additional 3 cents a gallon.
Registration fees on Illinois vehicles will be increasing as well. Gas-fueled cars will be $199 per car. Electric car fees increase to $245 from just $34 every other year.
Yet to be seen will be the increase in the price of goods and services that rely on transportation via trucks that travel in Illinois. By fall, the cost of select food products may increase due to transportation from warehouses to local stores. Shipping costs by UPS, FedEX and Amazon may increase by late fall. Local ridership by Lyft and Uber may increase, but the base fare will also increase. Tourism by people who visit the state via cars may see a decline in the next 18 months as the state becomes more expensive to visit.
This new gas tax is earmarked to improve roads and travel infrastructure in the state. If this is true, the state will have nicer roads and less people using them.
“I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.” ― Winston S. Churchill
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âI contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.â â Winston S. Churchill
Wait. What? Iâd venture to say that many Illinois citizens donât need this explained. Any tax increase will be harmful as long as they canât figure out a way to cut spending. We donât have the luxury of ignoring our bills and increasing our spending….and on top of that, giving ourselves pay raises. Theyâre wrong. They donât care about anybody but themselves. Theyâre as corrupt as the day is long. And nobody should trust them.
“Comparing state spending in fiscal year 2000 with state spending in fiscal year 2019 adjusted for inflation, higher education is down 52%, human services and public safety are down 26%, health care is down 23% and net discretionary spending is down 20%, according to an analysis by the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.” Things have already been cut back to the bone, Leslie Venere.
we disagree
Not about the basic facts, I hope.
Mike Wyckoff numbers might be right, but past support has been more than the state could afford. If spending exceeds what money the state has, the state should get spending under control. A pay cut, rather than a raise, would be a good place to start. And what is discretionary spending? Down just 20%? Why does higher education need any money? They should live within their means with the massive tuition dollars they receive. Spending is out of control, Mike, all over the country and those taxes just keep rising.
Fair enough. If those attitudes reflect your values, then so be it. In my view we charge students far too much in the way of tuition and fees to attend our universities. That’s a reflection of the state’s inability to live up to its responsibility to education its citizenry. Tuition is way up because state support for higher education is way down. Our children are not leaving the state to go to colleges elsewhere because our institutions aren’t up to par, but rather because they are underfunded. If we lived in a poor state, I would see things differently. But we live in a relatively rich state (take a look at some state gdp rankings). The wealth is there, but we’re too cheap to invest it in our children.
There are other reasons for the high tuition. Universities make bad spending decisions as well, in my opinion. In many cases, easy money results in bad spending decisions. I guess we will simply have to disagree with one another.
I don’t disagree entirely. Universities spend too much on administrative personnel, in my view. But if you plot state support for higher education over time, the extent to which it’s gone down is striking. You’re a good person to disagree with, I have to say. You’re kind enough to listen to my arguments and point of view. Will let you go, though 🙂 Take care.
Mike, I wish everybody could actually begin to have conversations again. Thanks for the discussion ð
Leslie Venere the little tag most relevant only is censorship at its most blatant.
Iâm outta here as soon as I can. I donât like the direction this state is going.
Thank You Mike, good points and concerns. Folks, I think Al Capone did a better job, than the “Outfit” we have now. Basic Math skills were omitted in their Education 101 STUPID !
Is there a toilet I can remove so I donât have to pay this?
Hang in there, Barbara Ellis. By law the money has to be used for infrastructure. The repairs and improvements are badly needed, and this will be at least a modest shot in the arm to local economies around the state. I hate the regressivity of the gas tax, but it does at least point at the people who will benefit from the infrastructure improvements.
Admittedly they benefitted from a big revenue windfall in April, but for the most part I believe this year’s budget is in balance, no?
The negativity on this issue amazes me. Does anyone deny that the infrastructure improvements are sorely needed? Would you rather they paid for the improvements with smoke and mirrors rather than to honestly and openly raise taxes to pay for them?
They âbalanceâ the budget by counting loans as revenue. The projected deficit for this fiscal year is more than $2 billion
Ant Hony Do you consider your personal budget in balance even if you have a mortgage? Or an automobile loan?
No accountant would claim I was balancing my personal budget if I was going further and further into debt every year.
Every accountant would tell me Iâm on the road to bankruptcy
The state doesnât need more money from us when the canât manage what they already have. What other wasteful spending programs will be cut for this? How many other âpromisesâhave they broken?
You avoided my question 🙂 Fair enough.
Brian David Look at the data. The state is not a big time spender relative to other states. There is precious little fat to be cut.
Have you even looked at the data? Relative to other states, we spend a lot more money
“Comparing state spending in fiscal year 2000 with state spending in fiscal year 2019 adjusted for inflation, higher education is down 52%, human services and public safety are down 26%, health care is down 23% and net discretionary spending is down 20%, according to an analysis by the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.” Things have already been cut back to the bone. https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/eric-zorn/ct-perspec-zorn-illinois-budget-tax-spend-cut-pensions-20190531-story.html#nt=oft13a-1gp1
Ant Hony Look at the final column in your data. Per capita spending. It supports my point of view. We spend at the same level as Idaho for goodness sakes.
Thatâs per item spending.
The state isnât short on funds as any look at state spending makes obvious. The state is mismanaging where the spending goes. I previously provided a source that makes it that extremely easy to see
Per capita spending, weâre the second highest in the region. My source doesnât support you
Ant Hony That’s PER CAPITA spending, controlling for population size. We’re a large state!
Yes and Iâll repeat myself, Per capita weâre the highest in the region. Only Wisconsin beats us in Per capita spending in the region
Click on the button in that column and it will rank the states by per capita spending. We’re 13th from the bottom. Way BELOW average.
I don’t see how we can argue if we can’t agree on basic facts. The data you’ve provided indicate we are 13th from the bottom in spending. If you think for just a moment about this, you’ll realize there is very little left in the budget to cut.
…and save Wisconsin, our neighboring states are below us on that list. Yet theyâre not in bad shape.
Why? Theyâre not mismanaging their money
You’re picking and choosing one or two states here and there to support a bad argument. Looking at all 50 states you can see that we are quite low in terms of spending. If you can’t see that then you just don’t know how to interpret basic data, I’m sorry.
Iâm picking and choosing every state that shares a border with Illinois. Why? Because thatâs what economists tend to do as theyâre the first choice for Illinois residents who move to another state.
No they don’t. Why in the world would you compare us with Iowa, for example? We’re a large, urban, industrialized state. They’re not. Geographic adjacency is not a particularly good choice for making pair-wise comparisons.
I already explained why. Those are the first choice for Illinois residents to flee to.
Maybe youâre unaware but people are fleeing Illinois. We typically rank in the top 5 states for highest tax burdens. Itâs not like weâre competing with neighboring states for residents or anything
Tax increases do not necessarily equate to higher revenue. Thatâs Econ 101
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-biz-transit-road-project-money-20190604-story.html