Kane County Reporter

Senate Republicans want to put a cap on sales tax at the pump to provide real relief to Illinoisans.

Senate Republicans have introduced SB 4195, which would immediately cap the state's sales tax on motor fuel at 18 cents per gallon, saving Illinois taxpayers almost $1 billion during the next fiscal year, while continuing to provide funding for the state's infrastructure projects.

"Gov. J.B. Pritzker has yet to weigh in on our proposal to freeze the sales tax on gasoline. Will he choose to save Illinois taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, or simply gouge us all by reaping another windfall from an artificially increasing sales tax revenue stream created by the unprecedented increase in the cost of gas? Voters are watching from Chicago to Cairo. It's not that hard to do the right thing. This is as non-partisan as it gets," said Sen. Don DeWitte.

The average price of a regular gallon of gas in Illinois was $4.557 on Tuesday (March 15), according to AAA, up from $2.859 one year ago.

"Currently, Illinoisans are paying about 25 cents per gallon in sales tax but could easily soon be paying up to 34 cents if gas prices hit $5.50 per gallon," a release stated.

Illinoisans pay the second-highest gas tax in the country, according to Illinois Policy. In 2019, Pritzker doubled the state gas tax from 19 cents to 38 cents.