Illinois can do it the old way and raise taxes to deliver pork projects. Or Illinois can be smart and make each tax dollar work hard to deliver projects that help residents and the economy.

The Illinois House Revenue and Finance Committee approved a bill that would more than double the state gas tax. Illinois may soon have the nation’s highest gas tax burden.

A bill that would double the gas tax imposed at the state level would drive up Illinoisans’ overall gas burden to second-highest in the nation – while hiking a truckload of other vehicle costs including higher license plate fees.

New House bill would create a pilot program to test the feasibility of a per-mile driving tax.

Red-light cameras generated lots of traffic ticket revenue for local government without proof they made roads safer. One Illinois House bill would ban them from certain municipalities, but another would ban them statewide.

Illinois already taxes 20 cents more per gallon of gasoline than Missouri. If state lawmakers add another 30 cents per gallon, expect an exodus of southwestern Illinois drivers buying gas and more in St. Louis.

Springfield is facing mounting pressure to enact a massive state gas tax hike. One proposal would make the average motorist pay as much as $200 per year in additional taxes on gas.

Departing Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel accelerated calls to boost Illinois’ gas tax to pay for local transportation projects.

While J.B. Pritzker has not released a detailed tax plan of his own, reasonable cost estimates suggest the tax hike required to pay for the candidate’s spending promises would require doubling Illinois’ state income tax rate and cost the state an estimated 132,000 jobs and $31.3 billion in forgone GDP.

While annual revenues have fallen amid camera removals and other changes, Chicago continues to cash in on red-light cameras.