Sen. Craig Wilcox (R-McHenry) | senatorwilcox.com
Sen. Craig Wilcox (R-McHenry) | senatorwilcox.com
State Sen. Craig Wilcox (R-McHenry) wants legislators to get back to the drawing board to bring "meaningful relief at the pump" for Illinoisans who have been impacted by skyrocketing gas prices across the state.
Wilcox said he wants to see more done to help Illinoisans who are forking out more money for fuel and addressed the issue in his June 27 Capitol Report.
"Despite these unprecedented prices that are doing harm to Illinois families, the Legislature seems to be content taking advantage of this crisis by gouging consumers of millions of dollars it never expected to receive," Wilcox said in his report. "Again, I am calling for a special session to repeal the Governor’s two-cent election-year gimmick and pass real relief such as Senate Bill 4195, which caps the amount of sales tax the government can collect for its General Revenue Fund at 18 cents per gallon and is more in line with what motorists were paying before gas prices skyrocketed earlier this year."
According to FOX 23 Chicago, three years ago Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) doubled the state's gas tax from 19 cents to 38 cents. The Governor also established an annual gas tax increase. Democrat lawmakers passed legislation to postpone this year's scheduled increase from July to January, but the bill required gas stations to put stickers on the pumps or face a hefty fine.
The gas tax increase postponement was included in a bundle of tax rebates and delays in the state's $46.5 billion FY 23 budget, according to Illinois Policy. The average Illinois family is expected to save around $556 because of the rebates and delays; however, the gas tax is expected to go up once again next July, after its scheduled raise in January 2023, which could bring the state's total gas tax up to 45.2 cents a gallon.
As of June 27, AAA reported the average cost for a gallon of regular gas in Illinois was $5.43, which was more than two dollars more from this time last year when the average cost for a gallon was $3.29. In McHenry County, the average cost for a gallon of gas was recorded at $5.15.
Alerts Sign-up