Chicago City Wire

GOP activist Jeffrey Carter is slamming Gov. J.B. Pritzker who doubled Illinois’ gas tax just before gas prices skyrocketed due to the Ukrainian conflict. 

“Pritzker justified his tax increase by saying it was for roads and global warming. Really, it lines the pockets of cronies and unions,” Carter told Chicago City Wire. “Some states like Nevada have very high gas taxes, but low property taxes and zero income taxes. Illinois isn’t like that. Repealing the Illinois tax isn’t the end. It’s a start given the horrible fiscal problems in Illinois created by Illinois Democrats and the people who continuously vote for them.”

Illinois has the second highest gas tax after Pritzker and his party raised it in 2019, WTVO reported.

“We are looking at ways we can reduce the gas tax across the State of Illinois, because we recognize, even since I introduced my budget, that war has broken out and the result of that war is that oil prices have gone through the roof,” the governor said three days ago, according to WTVO.

Back in February, Pritzker suggested a freeze, but has not acted on the proposal. He was behind the push to double the gas tax early in his term. The move is sure to play poorly at the polls this fall, Illinois Policy reported.

Illinoisans pay 77.96 cents per gallon for taxes alone, according to Illinois Policy. That is federal and state taxes combined. Across the border to the west, Missouri pays the second-lowest gas tax. In Illinois, a gallon of gas costs 42 cents more than Missouri due to differing tax policies.

In the latest American Petroleum Institute data released in January, Illinois is the third-highest among the states in diesel motor fuel taxes.

Carter is a trader with West Loop Ventures who focuses on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.