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 Lake County leaders will vote March 9 on a 4-cents-per-gallon
fuel tax increase.
They initially were looking at raising the gas tax by 8 cents a gallon, but cut
the proposal in half after some Lake County Board members resisted. There is
still resistance.
“I can’t, in my wildest dreams, think of a worse time to implement this tax,”
said Linda Pedersen, vice chair of the public works, planning and transportation
committee. She and others objected to imposing a new tax while COVID-19 is still
hurting the economy and residents’ personal finances. The tax is expected to generate $8 million to $11 million a year, which would be
added to the $30 million a year available for a $1.7 billion list of projects
the county plans to tackle by 2040. County leaders twice failed to get voters to
approve sales taxes to support transportation projects, but since 2008 the
county has received over $362 million from the Regional Transportation Authority
sales tax for road projects.
The ability to impose a gas tax came in 2019 when Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker
and state lawmakers doubled the statewide fuel tax. The new law also granted
certain counties the power to increase or start a local gas tax “not less than 4
cents per gallon and not more than 8 cents per gallon.” Will County was the
first to add a 4-cent tax under the new law, and was followed by DuPage County
doubling from 4 to 8 cents in November and the city of Chicago going from 5 to 8
cents on Jan. 1.
The Lake County Board previously looked at imposing the tax in 2019 after they
were granted the authority.
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Board member Craig Taylor said 4 cents may not be
the final amount. He said the county needs 8 cents per gallon but
recommended waiting a year “until people get their feet back on the
ground” after COVID-19 economic impacts lessen.
Public works and transportation committee member
John Wasik said the gas tax would help the economy, create jobs,
reduce congestion and provide other benefits.
“We are trying to address a long-standing issue,” Wasik said. “Now
is the time to do it.”
When Illinois doubled the state gas tax, state leaders also built in
automatic increases each July, which spares them from responsibility
for taking politically unpopular votes on increasing gas taxes. The
state tax doubled from 19 cents to 38 cents a gallon in 2019, then
increased to 38.7 cents in 2020 and faces another boost of as much
as 1 cent this year.
Drivers paid an extra $100 per year on average after the gas tax
doubled, according to an Illinois Policy Institute analysis. Also,
Illinois is one of just seven states where drivers pay layers of
both gas taxes and general sales taxes at the state and local
levels. Residents of DuPage, Kane, and McHenry counties already paid
a 4-cent gas tax before the 2019 state gas tax hike. Cities and
villages such as Decatur, Highland Park, Belvidere, Niles,
Schaumburg and Bloomington also impose their own taxes and fees on
gas.
All Illinois drivers also pay sales taxes on top of their gas taxes,
which is essentially double taxation.
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