CHICAGO—Illinois taxpayers defeated the plan of downstate and Cook County Democrats to give the state of Illinois the highest gasoline tax in the country during the Illinois 100th General Assembly lame duck session.
The Democrat mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emmanuel, showing how out-of-touch he was with taxpayers, had called for a 30 cent-per-gallon increase on the state gasoline tax. In response, taxpayers protested inside the Illinois Capitol Building against this two billion dollar tax hike. The January 7 protest featured many prominent anti-gasoline-tax speakers, including St. Rep. Allen Skillicorn, St. Rep. Jeanne Ives, and Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America.
When the protesters went to confront their state representatives over this proposed gasoline tax increase, the tax raisers gaveled out and fled to caucus. They refused to leave their rooms until protesters and their signs were thrown out!
“It must have been two minutes,” commented Val, a concerned taxpayer who was waiting in line to speak to his state representative about the gas tax. “They were in session for two minutes and ran. It’s like they didn’t want to talk to us.”
Illinois lawmakers were so shaken by the outpouring of opposition they did not amend any bills to include a tax increase.
“I bet those tax-raising cowards have never seen so many taxpayers gathered together in one place before,” said Tobin. “It’s too bad we taxpayers need to work for a living. Otherwise we could protest and stop every tax increase in its tracks.”
When asked about the possibility of the new general assembly passing a gas tax increase, Tobin responded, “I think they will try to pass it again. But now Springfield Democrats and the newly elected Governor Pritzker will have to take responsibility for any tax increase. They own it now. They wanted to pass it in the 100th so they could blame Gov. Rauner, and not look like hypocrites when they throw poor and middle class taxpayers under the bus.”
There is a terrible secret that has leaked from Springfield. Lame duck tax raisers are planning to pass a 30 cent gasoline tax increase on January 7 or 8 as a farewell gift. This tax gouge will give Illinois the highest gas taxes in the nation.
Information started to break as the Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel and a union of tax thieving mayors called for a massive fuel tax increase to fund what they described as “infrastructure projects.”
We know better than to believe that.
This state gas tax increase will heavily damage the Illinois economy, and chase even more taxpayers out of the state. For the year ending in 2018, Illinois continued a 5-year population decline and lost an additional 45,000 residents.
The bill will be voted on either the 7th or the 8th of January, so we do not have much time. We do not have the bill number, and we do not know in which chamber the bill will originate. The only information we have is that it will happen on those dates, and the sources of this information are credible.
We must take this threat seriously and we need all hands on deck to defeat this. I strongly urge you to call your state representative and state senator and tell them to vote NO on any new gas tax. You can contact them by going go to http://ima-net.org/illinois-legislator-e-contact-lists/ to get their phone numbers and email addresses. If you do not know who your local politician is, you can find them and their contact information with an interactive map here. https://www.illinoispolicy.org/maps/
This is a fight that we can win. France, one of the highest taxed countries in the world protested a recent gas tax similar to the one being proposed in Springfield. They donned yellow vests and took to the streets demanding the government reverse the tax. They won! The tax was reversed.
