Southern Illinois News

With gas prices expected to keep rising, Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) is joining her colleagues to call for a limit to the state's motor fuel sales tax.

"It is critical that the General Assembly acts immediately to provide some kind of relief to Illinoisans struggling to keep up with skyrocketing gas prices and surging inflation. This newly filed legislation responsibly addresses soaring prices at the pump by capping our state's sales tax on gas at the same rate it was before prices steeply spiked," Bryant said in a Facebook post.

According to a press release issued by Bryant, the state and federal motor fuel taxes are a flat tax rate and do not change as the price of fuel changes. But, the state also charges 6.25% in sales tax, in addition to the motor fuel tax, which does increase the amount consumers pay.

As of March 7, the average price for a gallon of gas in Illinois was $4.30 per gallon, according to Fox32 Chicago, and in Cook County, it's $4.50. These are prices Illinois residents haven't seen in more than a decade.

To lessen the burden, Bryant and her colleagues are putting forth SB4195, which makes it so that the Department of Revenue may not charge more than 18 cents per gallon for motor fuel for the prepayment of tax by vehicle fuel retailers.