Gassing up in Illinois pricey during record holiday travel

AAA estimates 5.7 million Illinoisans will travel this holiday season. Most will be driving, forced to pay the nation’s No. 2 gas taxes.

This year’s holiday travel is expected to break records with 122.4 million people nationally and 5.7 million Illinoisans traveling more than 50 miles, most by car, according to AAA.

Illinois drivers will pay the second-highest gas taxes in the nation. Illinois adds 85 cents to each gallon, pushing its fuel prices to the highest in the Midwest. Illinois’ price per gallon was $3.02 on Dec. 17, but drivers who could have waited to fill up in Indiana would have paid $2.84, Wisconsin $2.52, Iowa $2.48, Missouri $2.55 and Kentucky $2.59.

The good news is Illinois gas is about 20 cents lower than it was last Christmas.

Illinois drivers might also consider timing their travel to avoid the worst of the holiday congestion. The busiest travel times are expected after 3 p.m. on Dec. 19, after 2 p.m. on Dec. 20 and after noon on Dec. 21.

Illinois gas prices jumped in 2019 when Gov. J.B. Pritzker doubled the state excise portion from 19 cents to 38 cents, then imposed automatic, annual inflationary hikes that have driven it to 48.3 cents per gallon now. Those automatic bumps let state lawmakers escape responsibility for the hikes that now cost drivers $143 a year more than before Pritzker approved it.

The boosted taxes have created a $3.3 billion surplus in the state road fund, which state lawmakers raided this fall when they built a bailout for Chicago area mass transit.

Maybe drivers need to fill up in another state to save themselves some holiday cash and send Springfield a financial message. You can send them a direct message by using the form below.