Illinois No. 2 in the nation for gas taxes

Illinoisans pay the nation’s second-highest gas taxes behind only Californians, thanks to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s automatic gas tax hikes. The next gas tax hike is scheduled for July 1.

New rankings show Illinois motorists pay the second-highest gas taxes in the nation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Only Californians – by less than two cents – pay higher gas taxes than Illinoisans when you add up federal, state and local gas taxes.

At 66.5 cents per gallon, Illinois motorists can expect to pay $325 a year in state gas taxes alone based on American Petroleum Institute gas usage estimates. If someone were to switch to an electric vehicle, that comes with a $100 annual fee.

Illinois has had automatic annual gas tax hikes since 2019 when Gov. J.B. Pritzker and state lawmakers doubled it and built in automatic increases tied to inflation, with the next one coming July 1.

The state’s gas taxes consists of multiple layers: the state motor fuel excise tax, a prepaid sales tax and fees. That’s without the federal tax and local taxes added by municipalities: motorists in Cook County pay an added motor fuel tax and sales tax.

Illinois is one of the few states to charge a sales tax on gasoline, adding it after the motor fuel tax is applied. That means Illinois drivers get taxed on the taxes they pay for gas.

Middle- and lower-income families give up a greater share of their household budgets to gasoline, a cost that is hard to avoid and still get to work or transport children. Illinois drivers who can fill up out of state, or at least out of Chicago and Cook County, will see savings.