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 At the MotoMart store in Sauget,
Illinois, drivers are paying $4.30 at the pump, 20 cents more a gallon than the
national average thanks to the Prairie State being No. 2 in the nation for gas
taxes.
But a quick drive across the Mississippi River to St. Louis, Missouri, and
drivers pay $3.85 per gallon – saving $6.75 on every 15-gallon fill up.
Crossing the state line is the difference between paying the nation’s
second-highest and second-lowest gas taxes. And for Illinois gas station owners
near state lines, it means losing business.
“It’s like a tale of two cities,” said Robert Forsyth, president of MotoMart
Inc. “Missouri is doing quite well in terms of fuel demand. And Illinois is
doing quite poorly.” Forsyth operates 80 MotoMart gas and
convenience stores in six Midwestern states, including stations in Illinois,
Missouri and Indiana. He said sales at Illinois stations are down amid near
record prices, because drivers are more cost conscious and buy less when they
fill up.
 “It’s not surprising. Illinois charges a percentage sales tax on top of the
state fuel tax on every gallon, so when prices go up at the pump, taxes at the
pump go up, too,” Forsyth said. “Meanwhile, Missouri and Indiana don’t add a
sales tax on fuel. That means drivers save more.”
He said sales in Missouri are climbing as more Illinoisans cross state lines to
fill up amid high prices – and save big. This leaves Illinois gas stations at a
competitive disadvantage.
“We've seen how higher gas pricing impacts sales; demand decreases and driver
behaviors change, including where they fill up and what they buy,” Forsyth said.
“This year, sales are up in Missouri and down in Illinois. The percentage
increase in sales at our stores in Missouri is actually bigger than the decrease
in sales at our Illinois locations.”
Forsyth blames Illinois’ nation-leading taxes for driving residents across the
border by exacerbating prices on necessary goods, such as fuel. He said taxes on
gas are among the most regressive in the state, affecting the most vulnerable
residents more than higher-income residents.
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“Illinois’ population has the seventh highest state
and local tax burden in the nation this year,” Forsyth said, based
on a Tax Foundation report from April. “Take an already overburdened
population and then tack on the nation’s second-highest gas taxes…
and any additional increase is that much more painful. And some feel
it worse than others.
“Not only are upper- and middle-class folks much more likely to have
more fuel-efficient vehicles than lower-income folks, who end up
driving older, gas guzzling cars, but fuel costs are a larger
percentage of a low-income family’s budget.”
Illinois drivers have paid the nation’s second-highest gas tax since
Gov. J.B. Pritzker doubled the state gas tax from 19 to 38 cents per
gallon to fund $45 billion in infrastructure and pork projects.
Illinoisans now pay about $1 per gallon at the pump in taxes.
Pritzker proposed in his 2023 Illinois budget temporarily delaying
the automatic annual increase he built in when doubling the state
gas tax. But that delay means two gas tax hikes in 2023 after the
election. Combined, the double hike in 2023 will drive the state gas
tax to 45.2 cents a gallon – a 138% increase in the gas tax since
Pritzker took office.
The governor then mandated gas stations put signs on their pumps
advertising his tax hike delay – or pay $500-a-day fines.
“Petroleum marketers should not be forced into offering free
election-year advertising for the governor,” Forsyth said. “I surely
hope this matter will be challenged in court.”
The inflationary adjustment is estimated to cost Illinoisans 6 cents
more per gallon in taxes by the middle of 2023. Forsyth said that
gives Illinoisans six more reason to cross the border when filling
up.
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