DeKalb Times

Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) has encouraged people to hit the road and take a trip through Illinois as more money from taxes paid for a gallon of gas will be put towards fixing state and local roads.

Illinois is one of a few states that charge a sales tax on top of the gas tax, but when the gas tax automatically increases by a half-cent July 1 and each year after, the sales tax will decrease by the same amount. 

"It's not an increase because the sales tax is going down and the gas tax is going up, but it's then converting all that money to roads," State Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) told the Dekalb Times. "It's no change to consumers, but it is adding more money to roads."

Syverson said it's basically a "tax swap" that will gradually put more money generated from gasoline purchases towards local road repairs while decreasing the amount going to governments. 

"People assume that the taxes they pay at the pump are being used for state and local roads and 5% of that, or the sales tax portion of it, has not gone to roads, that's just gone to governments," Syverson said. "What this says is that over the next five years they're going to transition so all the taxes that you pay at the pump go to local and state roads."

The change in the tax structure for gas purchases was all a part of the Capital Plan that passed last year and will automatically, simultaneously and gradually increase the gas tax and decrease the sales tax

"This is a five-year transfer from sales tax to roads, so it gives more assurance to local residents that the gas tax they're paying is actually going to go to roads," he said. 

But Syverson said Pritzker has proposed "freezing" the swap for a year in the budget he introduced. 

This as the Governor launched a $6 million initiative aimed at boosting the state's tourism following the COVID-19 pandemic by pushing Illinoisans and out-of-state travelers to take a drive through the Prairie State, according to Illinois Policy.

Syverson is hopeful the state legislature will follow through with the promise made to residents that more of the money from taxes will go to the roads.