Champaign, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Could the State of Illinois pause its tax on gasoline?
Governor Pritzker — in Champaign Tuesday for a ground-breaking event at a local park district facility — says, maybe.
“We have enough (money in our road fund) here so that we could make some sort of pause,” said Pritzker. “I think that’s something the legislature is going to consider over the coming week.
Pritzker says, though, the main priority for lawmakers with less than a week to go before the scheduled end of the legislative session is to pass what he says is a balanced budget.
The state’s gas tax is 6.25 percent, on top of all the other taxes imposed.
Pritzker says there are other ways gas prices in Illinois could be lowered.
“We in the state can look at doing what I already did a few years ago, which is suspend the increase in the gas tax — the automatic increase,” said Pritzker. “I authorized E-15 as an additive in our state. That’s something that, really, hadn’t ever been done before. It lowers the cost of gasoline by about 15 cents per gallon.”
Pritzker blames the military conflict in Iran as the main reason gas prices are so high right now — still close to $4.89 a gallon in parts of the Springfield area, only slightly dropping in recent weeks.
“Donald Trump has added about $1.50 a gallon to every gallon of gas that you fill your tank with — $1.50,” said Pritzker. “It’s a war of choice that’s led to that. He took us in to that war. He should get us out of that war.”
