There is no way around it -- gas prices continue to rise, keeping folks feeling the pinch at the pump. Illinois is one of the states hardest hit by the gas prices, as the second highest taxed state at the pump, behind only California.
“Government should not be able to benefit in a windfall of revenue at the taxpayer expense during a time of crisis like this,” Illinois State Sen. Dave Syverson said.
Every time you fill up in Illinois, you are paying three different taxes: the road tax, which pays for infrastructure projects; the federal tax; and lastly, the sales tax. The road and federal taxes are fixed rates, while the sales tax climbs and dips with the price of the pump. Syverson wants to cap the sales tax at last year's average, 18%.
“Government doesn’t need this money. They didn’t plan on this money, so why give government a windfall of revenue that money can do much better in the pockets of struggling tax payers,” Syverson said.
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Syverson believes surrounding states have the upper hand. While he does not want to go away from a sales tax, he believes Illinois gas stations could lose out to their neighbors.
“As that sales tax increases more and more, people who live on the border are crossing over to the other states to fill up,” Syverson said.
To read more about this proposal, click this link. Syverson tells NBC 5 he'd like to get a vote on the bill during the spring session.
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In the meantime, folks in Chicago got a break at the pump after businessman Willie Wilson announced he'd be donating $200,000 to 10 different gas stations. The move attracted hundreds to the gas stations looking for a break.
“This my truck right here so it cost $120 to fill up. $50 put me probably at half something -- better than nothing,” Marcus Houston, a man getting gas, said.
There has been no word if Wilson plans on holding another free gas event in the future.
