You’ll Pay More For Gas In Illinois Starting Next Week

Just in time for summer travels, the price of gas is going up.

It's just wouldn't be summer without the price of gasoline going up, would it? According to NBC Chicago, gas in Illinois is going up in price but if there's any positive part: it doesn't seem like it will be too bad.

The increase, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue, will start on July 1st and go through June 30th of next year.

The gas tax will go up a bit more than 3.5%, from $0.454 cents per gallon to $0.47. So it could be a lot worse.

The diesel tax is going up even less, from $0.529 to $0.545 per gallon, just a little over a 3% increase.

Illinois has the 2nd highest fuel tax rate in America (only behind California), according to a fall study from Tax Foundation.

Illinois is no stranger to some drama involving the gas tax. In 2019, the state passed legislation on it after the gas tax was raised from $0.19 to $0.38 per gallon after not having a gas tax increase in 30 years.

After the inflation caused by COVID, the state has increased the gas tax three times over the last couple of years. The state's fuel tax is used to fund construction projects at both the local and state levels (probably those projects that seemingly never end).

Add into the mix that gas is taxed $0.184 per gallon on the federal level.

So while this summer's gas tax increase could be worse, it's still on the rise from previous years.