Lawsuit eyed over Illinois' gas tax sticker requirement

[April 13, 2022]  By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – A group representing convenience stores across Illinois is eyeing litigation over a looming state requirement to place stickers on gas pumps announcing a delayed tax increase. Stores that refuse face steep fines.

The latest inflationary numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show in the past year, all types of gas cost 48% more. Fuel oil increased more than 70%. Across the board, all consumer prices increased an average of 8.5%, the highest rate since the early 1980s.

Republicans in the super minority at the Illinois statehouse wanted to cap the sales tax on top of the gas tax for a savings of up to 16 cents a gallon. Some even wanted to permanently reduce the state’s gas tax. That didn’t happen.

As part of the state budget set to begin July 1, supermajority Democrats at the statehouse approved delaying the annual cost-of-living increase on the gas tax of 2.2 cents a gallon that was baked in when the state’s gas tax was doubled in 2019. The plan also requires gas stations to post a sticker on pumps announcing the freeze.

Josh Sharp with the Illinois Fuel and Retail Association said it’s likely the group will sue.

“That’s compelling people to utter speech that they don’t want to say, or that they don’t want to take part in,” Sharp told WMAY. “The state has not only assigned a fine to that, but they’ve criminalized it.”

A violation would be a petty offense, Sharp said, but the fine of $500 daily for noncompliance is “steep.”

Grocery stores have to also announce the temporary reduction of the grocery tax from 1% to 0%, but there are no penalties if they don’t. That’ll be for a full year. The gas tax increase is only to be suspended for six months.

As to who will pay for the notification stickers, that’s still unknown.

“That’s part of the problem with doing legislation in the last minute because you don’t get answers to questions like that,” Sharp said.

The sponsor of the bill, state Rep. Mike Zalewski, D-Riverside, didn’t respond to how much the stickers will cost when reached Tuesday. He was asked by state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, about the cost last week in a committee hearing and again early Saturday morning before the legislation passed, and no answer was provided.

Sharp speculated this year's midterm elections are behind the sticker requirement. Gov. J.B. Pritzker and all state House and Senate seats are on the ballot.

“Politicians in Springfield, perhaps a few of them running statewide, fear that they’re going to be the ones to wear the jacket for high gas prices during the fall and now they're doing everything they can to get their message out and let people know about this so-called relief,” Sharp said.

Democrats contend the plan, in combination with other temporary tax cuts and credits, will provide relief for Illinois taxpayers.

Sharp said the freezing of a tax that hasn’t even kicked in yet is not relief.

“There’s two tax increases now in 2023, so all we’re doing is delaying one of them until after the election,” Sharp said. “So, there’ll be a tax increase on Jan. 1, and there’ll be a tax increase on July 1, 2023.”

Greg Bishop reports on Illinois government and other issues for The Center Square. Bishop has years of award-winning broadcast experience and hosts the WMAY Morning Newsfeed out of Springfield.