Gas taxes strike back

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: Gas taxes strike again.

Last month nine states in the U.S. raised fuel taxes. Three states raised it by more than three cents per gallon. Illinois is one of them.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: People living in a rural area of the Prairie State are trying to cope with the added financial strain. Here’s WORLD Radio Intern Alex Carmenaty.

SOUND: [FILLING UP A GAS TANK]

ALEX CARMENATY: At Illinois gas stations, the average cost per gallon is roughly $3.85. That means to fill up this 2001 Ford Ranger pickup truck. It will cost more than $61.

SOUND: [GAS PUMP CLICKING OFF]

For every gallon of gas, Illinois adds 45.4 cents in taxes, meaning this tank of gas just earned the state $7.28. Illinois has the fourth highest gas tax in the nation. It’s just one of the many reasons why living in the Land of Lincoln has become so expensive.

JUDY WITTROCK: I live seven miles from grocery stores. I have to drive it both ways. So, I'm affected by gas and grocery taxes.

Judy Wittrock lives in Dover, Illinois. A town of roughly 150 people that’s two hours west of Chicago. She carefully monitors how often she drives to town.

WITTROCK: I have to plan all of my trips. It's not just the groceries, anything that you need to get, you have to make a trip. And if you make one trip and then the pharmacy calls and says your medicine is ready. Now you've added another 15 miles which is wear and tear in gas.

Illinois has increased its gas tax twice since the first of this year. The state paused its gas tax and one percent grocery tax last year due to record high inflation. Both were reinstated on July 1st. These tax increases might seem small on paper, but they add up for folks on fixed incomes like Wittrock.

WITTROCK: And we think oh, you know, it's only a few cents on my gas or it's only a few cents on my groceries. And then I look back and I go, Oh, I just got my bill. I spent $146 on gas this month. Where did I go?

Illinois’ Governor is Democrat J.B. Pritzker. He’s been in office since 2019. When he started, the per gallon tax rate was at 19 cents—almost 30 cents less than its current rate. The tax is intended for building and maintaining roads and highways, but Wittrock hasn’t seen it.

WITTROCK: The money that went into taxes never went back to fixing our roads which the gas tax has to go for. Never went to fixing bridges that are 100 years old and 100 years old and not safe. We have roads that are closed three miles from me, because the Bridge is falling down.

Wittrock’s State Senator is Win Stoller. The Republican serves in the states’ 37th District and represents a large portion of Central Illinois.

WIN STOLLER: Just before I came into office in 2020, in 2019, our state budget was about 38 billion. This year, it's 53 billion. That's an increase of $15 billion in the last four years. That's 9% increase per year. Now, I don't think very many people, residents of the state have gotten a 9% increase in their pay four years in a row. But the state of Illinois seems to have just an insatiable appetite for new spending.

Stoller comes from Germantown Hills. He serves in a district where several towns have populations of less than a thousand people. Germantown Hills is similar to Dover—residents have to drive several miles for basic necessities.

STOLLER: Germantown Hills doesn't have a grocery store. So we're driving to the nearest town or all the way into Peoria for groceries. We've got two gas stations in Germantown. So I've seen people when I fill my car up and, you know, you hear from them.

Neighboring states like Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin have cheaper gas taxes that are all under 35 cents per gallon. All three neighbors also have no grocery taxes. Illinois residents are starting to notice a trend that has plagued states like New York and California.

STOLLER: The last census, Illinois was one of only three states to lose population, and then the Census Bureau's estimate since the last census, we've lost over 100,000 residents each year. And so yes, people are leaving.

Don Mansfield has seen this first hand. He’s worked in industrial sales for nearly 30 years.

MANSFIELD: You start to raise taxes and if you have neighboring states that don't have as high a tax rate or no tax rate, people are going to move there. People are going to leave Illinois and they'll go to Iowa or Wisconsin or Indiana or wherever it is where they can afford to live.

Mansfield says Illinois' problem is managing its own budget.

MANSFIELD: The states around us pretty much laugh at us. And I can tell you that with certainty because those states balance their budgets. Illinois has a problem doing that and they've been overspending for at least 30 years, if not longer. So when you're running a deficit all the time, well, sooner or later the Piper comes calling and you have to make up that deficit.

SOUND: [WITTROCK WORKING IN GARDEN]

For many remaining in the prairie state, the tax increases mean necessary budget adjustments. Judy Wittrock has cut her expenses by living in a duplex with her sister. She also spends time everyday in her yard caring for her garden and a few chickens.

WITTROCK: Eggs are $4 a dozen. These are probably 75 cents a dozen. We will have enough tomatoes so that we will spend probably three or four sessions making tomato juice and making barbecue sauce and making spaghetti sauce. We won't have to buy those things all year.

Wittrock’s garden is more than just a money saver. It gives her the ability to help others.

WITTROCK: It's a thing that my sister and I and maybe one or two other people would get together and do. If I pull a couple of things of tomato sauce out and make stuffed green peppers to take to somebody. I feel good.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Alex Carmenaty in Central Illinois.

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