Rep. Dan Ugaste | Courtesy photo
Rep. Dan Ugaste | Courtesy photo
With inflation making day-to-day life harder for the middle class, politicians are raising their voices for gas tax relief.
Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-St. Charles) calls for gas tax relief to help Illinoisans struggling to deal with inflation.
"Rising fuel prices are having a major impact on family budgets across Illinois. We can give our citizens a break by passing tax relief measures today," Ugaste posted on Facebook.
The average price of a regular gallon of gasoline in Illinois is $4.497 as of March 25, according to AAA, up from $3.686 one month ago and $3.063 one year ago.
WIFR reported that although Gov. Pritzker has suggested freezing gas and grocery taxes next year, Republican legislators are arguing that Illinoisans need relief sooner than next year. One proposal would freeze the sales tax on gasoline at 18 cents per gallon. "None of the proposals from the House Republicans have seen significant movement since they were introduced," according to WIFR.
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.
Not all economic news is bad though. President Joe Biden recently tweeted, "Our economic strategy has worked — and it’s still working. We created 6.7 million jobs last year; unemployment is down to 3.8%; Our economy grew at 5.7% last year; We reduced the deficit by $360 billion last year."
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