Automatic Annual Gas Tax Increases in Illinois

Right on schedule, the new year will bring (yet another) onerous increase in gas taxes for Illinoisans: the gas tax is set to be increased to 42.5 cents per gallon, effective January 1, 2023.  The state gas tax was 19 cents per gallon before J.B. Pritzker took office—meaning the gas tax has more than doubled in the last four years. 

Elections have consequences and people’s memories are very short. Not only did Pritzker immediately raise the gas tax upon his installment as governor in 2019, he made yearly tax hikes automatic to account for inflation. But out of caution for Election 2022, he delayed the regularly scheduled tax hike until after the election. Instead, Pritzker required gas station owners to put stickers on their pumps that said: