Quincy Reporter

With gas prices increasing and no decline in sight, Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) has joined her colleagues in calling for a cap to the amount that the state can charge for the motor vehicle gas tax.

Senate Republican lawmakers held a press conference in Springfield March 10 to announce Senate Bill 4195, a proposal that has the potential to save consumers as much as $1 billion.

Senate Bill 4195 would limit the amount that the Department of Revenue can tax gas at 18 cents per gallon. It was filed on March 10.

Tracy and her Senate colleagues are calling on the General Assembly and the Pritzker Administration to immediately cap the state's sales tax on motor fuel at 18 cents per gallon, which is what consumers were paying last fall before prices started to climb. 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. 

Tracy said on her website that Illinoisans are struggling with their personal budgets because of 40-year-high inflation rates, and must have permanent, substantive tax relief, not the kind of short-term, election-year relief proposed by Pritzker during his budget address Feb. 2. 

As of March 7, the average price for a gallon of gas in Illinois was $4.30 per gallon, according to Fox32 Chicago, and in Cook County, it's $4.50. These are prices Illinois residents haven't seen in more than a decade.