Almost 40% of lawmakers who passed Pritzker’s automatic gas tax hikes no longer in office

Of the 131 who voted for the increases in 2019, 51 aren’t in the General Assembly today.

Nearly 40% of the lawmakers who voted in 2019 to raise the state gas tax automatically every year are no longer in the General Assembly.

Yet that automatic hike lives on.

The inflation-linked annual increases were part of the Rebuild Illinois infrastructure program, which initially doubled the gas tax to 38 cents a gallon. It’s now over 48 cents a gallon thanks to those automatic increases.

The Illinois House voted 83-29 for Rebuild Illinois and the state Senate 48-9 in favor, meaning large majorities in both chambers approved a permanent tax-hike mechanism that doesn’t require another vote in Springfield.

Of the 131 lawmakers who voted for the gas tax hikes, 51, or 39%, are no longer in the General Assembly. One, Martin Sandoval, died of COVID in late 2020. A few have been convicted of crimes including Sandoval, Tom Cullerton, Terry Link and Luis Arroyo.

Others moved on to other offices, retired or lost re-election. Former Speaker Mike Madigan, who oversaw the passing of the law but abstained from voting on it, is serving a federal prison sentence for corruption.

The tax is suspended — but for only six months

The scheduled increase was supposed to raise the state gas tax from 48.3 cents to 49.6 cents per gallon July 1. But lawmakers decided to suspend the 1.3-cent increase for six months.

That raises an obvious question: If Illinois can get by without the scheduled increase for six months, why is the automatic hike necessary at all?

Illinois already has the country’s second–highest gas tax. It is also one of just three states that applies the state’s general sales tax on top of gasoline purchases after federal taxes have been added.

Lawmakers have already admitted the next hike can wait. They could end the automatic escalator altogether.