(The Center Square) – As oil prices rise due to tensions in the Middle East, high gas taxes in Illinois are only making life more expensive for drivers.
A study by the Tax Foundation shows that Illinois has the second highest gasoline taxes in the country. Only California has higher taxes. The only two states with gasoline taxes above 60 cents per gallon have higher taxes. The lowest gasoline tax in the Americas is in Mississippi at just 18 cents per gallon.
Illinois residents pay 66.5 cents per gallon in taxes. In neighboring Missouri, the gas tax is less than a quarter, something that has not gone unnoticed by Illinois drivers, Adam Hoffer, director of excise tax policy at the Tax Foundation, said on the group’s podcast.
“I think most drivers know where to get the cheapest gas and whether it’s cheapest in their own state or in another state nearby that they may be traveling to,” Hoffer says.
In neighboring Iowa, the gasoline tax is 30 cents per gallon. In Kentucky, it is 30.1 cents. In Wisconsin, it is 32.9 cents. In Indiana, it is 51.7 cents.
When Illinois’ gasoline tax was raised again in July, it meant the average driver would pay $184 more in gas taxes each year than they did before 2019, when a bipartisan group of state lawmakers and Governor JB Pritzker doubled the tax and adjusted the annual increases for inflation.
Earlier this year, Republican state Rep. Dan Caulkins of Decatur called for a gas tax freeze.
“People who have to drive to work need some relief because we know that inflation is putting a strain on everyone’s budget,” Caulkins said.
Illinois is one of seven states that imposes a sales tax on gasoline, which is added after the motor fuel tax. This means that Illinois drivers pay sales taxes in addition to the taxes they pay on gasoline.
Dylan Sharkey of the Illinois Policy Institute said Illinois unfortunately ranks high on other tax lists as well, having, for example, the second-highest property tax and the second-highest corporate tax rate.
“It’s one thing to be at the top of a ranking, but the fact that Illinois is consistently at the top of all the rankings shows that people are getting the short end of the stick in many ways,” Sharkey said.
