ILLINOIS, USA — Area drivers are paying nearly $1.00 more per gallon of regular gas this year over this time last year. Illinois drivers are paying even more than that because of a gas tax increase.
Although you may not notice much of a difference if you filled up Thursday over another day this week. That's because the gas tax only rose the price of gas by half of cent.
"If I have to pay a little extra at the pump so that [roads] can improve. It's not such a big deal to me" said Paul Strubell. Strubell, lives in Iowa and every year takes a trip to New England with his family. "The difference between the road quality in many of the states we travel through between Iowa and New England... Illinois has some of the worst road quality" said Strubell.
In 2019 Illinois created a $45 billion infrastructure plan which doubled the gas tax from $0.19 per gallon to $0.38 per gallon. This report only covers the effects on regular gasoline. To see a complete breakdown of the gas tax click here.
The law signed in 2019 also tied the infrastructure law to the consumer index which means the gas tax will continue to increase annually to match inflation. Some people filling up say they are fine paying a little more at the pump if that means roads will improve. In many cases, out of state residents are helping to foot the bill.
One driver who wanted to remain anonymous said, "I'm just passing through but they [the roads] could be better and if that's what they need then yeah", when asked if the gas tax is justified.
According to the Governor's office, the money collected from the gas tax must be used in one of three ways:
1) State roads and bridges
2) local governments
3) transit systems
Moline Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati says the city has already seen some money come in as a result. "We had approximately $1.7 million that came through to us and our staff is working on what any kind of increase would mean going forward".
The next time Illinois could see an increase for the gas tax will be July 2022.