By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
Illinoisans are paying West Coast gas prices for the pleasure of living in the Midwest.
That makes no sense until you remember that Illinoisans pay the nation’s second-highest gas taxes, courtesy of Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the state legislature in 2019. That’s when they doubled motor fuel taxes to 38 cents.
The latest data from AAA shows Illinoisans pay an average of $3.41 per gallon of gas, the nation’s 7th-highest price and the highest east of the Rockies. The six states with higher gas prices are all on the West Coast.
For those of you that pay for premium, watch out. You’ll be forking over $4.43 per gallon – the 4th-highest price in the nation outside of just California, Hawaii and Washington.
Drive to any state next door to fill up, however, and you’ll pay far less.
In Missouri and Kentucky, regular gas is just $2.85 a gallon – ranked 39th and 40th in the nation. Prices in Wisconsin and Iowa are only a little more: $2.98 – ranking them 32nd and 33rd.
Only Michigan comes close at $3.17, still 24 cents below Illinois.
Gas taxes are largely to blame for Illinois’ outlier status. Illinoisans now pay a combined 66 cents in state taxes (motor fuel and sales taxes) on gas, which is more than double what many of our neighbors pay.
Unfortunately, Gov. Pritzker keeps talking about tariffs and “affordability” at the national level while he preps his campaign for president. Illinoisans would be far better served if Pritzker focused on making gas affordable here in Illinois by slashing gas taxes.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- 2024 data: Not a single child tested proficient in math in 80 Illinois schools. For reading, it was 24 schools.
- ‘Record’ number of Illinois jobs: Don’t be a chump.
- Illinois metro areas take the top four spots for nation’s highest property taxes. Rockford takes the crown.
- Illinois lawmakers ignore where the real transit savings are
- More than $1 billion in market losses is a reminder of how close Chicago pensions are to the brink
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Serious question: I would expect a leftist to have the kind of poor career choices and terrible spending habits that render them too broke to do anything productive, so let’s ignore them. But are the readers of this website so broke that $3.50 a gallon is going to sink them? Perhaps I am too ‘old-school’ but it sounds like some people commenting here really need to take proactive steps to increase their earnings, or else take a long honest look at their situation and how they got to this point.
Mark and Ted, outstanding analysis as always.
Don’t underestimate how big that is for many people. When I was in venture capital, I did lots of research on consumer-facing products for the working class, such as prepaid cell phone plans. What many people did on Fridays when they get their paycheck, at least then, is fill up their tank, re-charge their available cell phone time, buy some groceries and maybe a six pack. Lots of people. And for many trade workers who work out of their trucks, gas is a major expense.
Despite the castigating and haranguing by Climate Clerics for forty plus years, the world has never exited The Oil Age.
Look around you. Everything around you got there on a truck. And it wasn’t powered by Pixie Dust.
The price of fuel – gasoline or diesel – permeates EVERYTHING in the economy. Add 50 cents per gallon tax and the price of EVERYTHING is effected. So yes, reasonable republicans with useful degrees and productive jobs likely can afford the extra $10 to fill the gas tank but…..added onto the proportionally increased cost of everything else it cumulatively becomes a pointless government created burden. It also makes Illinois products produced in this artificially more expensive state economy more expensive, less competitive and may force those IL businesses to relocate in order to stay in business and ending employment of… Read more »
Was thinking the same, GT. Very disappointing to be reminded that so many of my fellow Rs are as bad with money as our elected Ds.
There is an old say “Better in my pocket than theirs”. I have seen people have to decide if they spend $5 on gas or milk for their children. Be happy that you do not have to make this kind of decision.
The Pritzker For President Campaign will certainly jack up the Illinois gasoline tax to outpace his nemesis Newsome in California. Thereby JB will be crowned the most progressive and anti automobile of them all.
What has Illinois done to improve its roads, and how much more work has Illinois done on its roads, compared to neighboring states? Basically, is the State receiving the tax money and what are they doing with it? Same question for the toll money.
This is a feature, not a bug of JB the Hutt’s business acumen.
The real story, , is by the lying democrat media. They scream about ExxonMobil, etc gouging drivers, & taking excessive profits. They’re 180 degrees wrong. Exxon makes about 6% of after-tax profit. Apparently Illinois + federal taxes are 65 cents. Avg gas at pump $3.40 thus $2.75 goes to Exxon and gas station. So roughly .65/2.75= 24% goes to state & fed, 4 times more, so NOW who’s gouging, you lying scumbag democrats?
Few people know the economics of how fuel gets to the local gas station. You have it about right, sadly.
Feeling like you are being gouged, it is because you are. High road taxes and mediocre roads. Such a deal. In Illinois you can smoke pot and fall in potholes all in the same day.
Yep. One thing miss about Michigan is there isn’t a single toll road in the entire state!
And on July 1st there will be another increase in the fuel tax
thank you Governor WIDE-LOAD
With crude below $60, refined products are also declining. Gasoline under $2/gal and Diesel well under $3/gal is happening over much of the country. Just maybe the IL AG could stop entering into frivolous lawsuits against the Trump Admin and get off his flaccid self and determine why IL companies are charging record fuel surcharge fees to citizens on their monthly bills.
Wait until JB the Hutt’s henchmen start whining about fuel tax revenue falling short of their typically optimistic projections. Then the Hutt will push for a mileage tax.
The Hutt doesn’t realize that regular folks don’t have offshore trust funds like he does.
He knows it…he just doesn’t give a damn. Bubbles is focused on the White House.
Not exactly on topic, but I have a question.
It seems everyone is shocked and upset by the report of GDP falling by .3% in the first quarter. Since government spending is a significant portion of GDP, shouldn’t we expect a drop in GDP initially when government spending is cut? What would IL economics look like if government spending were cut?
Exactly. And a rise in unemployment with the tossing of the federal ‘workforce’ grifters should be expected too. Especially since nearly all new job growth under biden was with government workers. Public sector job growth and GDP growth naturally lag behind the shedding of the government shackle but inevitably both do grow. It took nearly three years for Reagan to fix the Democrat’s economy in the early 1980’s.
Wow! And the hits just keep coming for citizens of IL. But as the shills for the Democrats and public unions here have posted numerous times, this is what IL voters want.
I don’t smoke pot but my friends who do buy in MI where it’s far cheaper. All to say IL seems to do with pot what they do with gas, tax it hard to pay for pensions.
Yet Waddles continues to beat his chest about fighting the good fight for “ his people “ and bashing Trump like the true one note Johnny he is.
And the roads look like bombed out German highways after WW2
It is just a democratic tax grab from the Fat Man…and he wants to be president?! Go back to your toilet mansion bubbles, we know who you are.
$2.79 in Beloit. $2.69 at the Sam’s Club in St. Louis just across the border. All bordering states have lower gas prices yet Illinois is still broke with all the tax increases.
Short trip and last time gas was $0.60 cents a gallon cheaper than Illinois. The vehicles filling up all had Illinois plates
Also 5.5% sales tax.
My folks back in Detroit say it’s been in the $2.80 to $3.00 range for months. Only in Illinois do you thru the nose forever.