Incumbent statehouse Republicans face GOP challengers over vote to double gas tax

[June 28, 2022]  By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Illinois statehouse Republicans that voted in 2019 to double the state’s gas tax and include annual increases tied to inflation face challengers in Tuesday’s GOP primary election.

The vote to double the gas tax in 2019 was bipartisan.

State Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, supported the measure. Challenging Butler in the GOP primary is Kent Gray, who criticized Butler’s support for the doubling of the gas tax that also included a parking excise tax.

“Rep. Tim Butler, if you drive a car, he’s going to tax you as soon as it moves and he’s going to tax you as soon as you stop,” Gray said.

Butler defended his vote.

“I make no bones about the fact that infrastructure is one of the things in the state of Illinois that gives us a competitive advantage,” Butler said. “And what my opponent would like to do is strip that away, basically stop the hundreds of millions of dollars of projects that are being invested right here in this community.”

Illinois has the second-highest gas tax in the country and the highest in the Midwest.

Starting July 1, the annual increase on the gas tax that was scheduled is being delayed until Jan. 1. Butler and several other Republicans supported that measure in April, which also includes requiring gas stations to post signs about the delayed 2-cent a gallon tax increase.

A BP gas station in Cary, Illinois on June 4, 2022.
The Center Square

Don Debolt, who is challenging Springfield state Sen. Steve McClure in the GOP primary Tuesday. He said the incumbent is to blame for the state’s high gas tax.

“He voted to double the gas tax, but more importantly, they voted to put in automatic tax increases every year into the gas tax,” Debolt said.

McClure said Democrats already had the votes to double the gas tax in 2019 and if he didn’t support the measure, it would have been difficult to bring projects to his district. He said separate from the motor fuel tax is the sales tax on top of the price of fuel and that needs to be suspended without impacting infrastructure funding.

“So since we already have enough money to fund us for next year that we typically get out of the gas sales tax, people are just getting money stolen from them from the state of Illinois,” McClure said. “So it’s time for an emergency special session to cut the sales tax.”

Primary election polls close at 7 p.m.

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.