“Illinois has some of the highest gasoline prices in the country, and these prices are going to be even more outrageous in July, thanks to Ill. Gov. Jay Robert ‘J. B.’ Pritzker,” said Jim Tobin, economist and president of Taxpayers United of America (TUA).
A recent report shows that gasoline prices are the highest they’ve been since July 2019, when the state gasoline tax doubled to 38 cents. At that time, lawmakers put in place an automatic gas tax hike tied to inflation.
According to the website GasBuddy, Illinois has the sixth-highest average gas prices and the highest in the Midwest by far.
The price of a gallon of gas in Illinois averages around $3.30 a gallon. In nearby Missouri, gas averages around $2.80 a gallon.
The state gas tax hike in 2019 cost the average motorist about $100 more a year, according to an Illinois Policy Institute analysis.
“The Springfield Democrats doubled the gas tax for ‘necessary’ repair of roads and bridges, but the Illinois Policy Institute found at least $1.4 billion of pork spending, including funding for swimming pools and pickleball courts,” said Tobin.
The impact is felt even more by lower-income homes in Illinois. Many of the lowest income households in the country spend nearly one-fifth of their income on gasoline, three times more than the average U.S. household, according to an analysis by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
“Jay Robert Pritzker is the worst governor in the history of Illinois,” said Tobin, “and considering some of the losers Illinois has had as governor, that’s quite an achievement. It’s debatable whether Illinois can survive his hard-left, union-bought administration.”
