A leading planning group official said Monday that Illinois needs to add another 30 cents onto the price of a gallon of gasoline, to keep the state’s roads and mass transit from falling apart.
A massive hike to the gas tax, last raised around the time Michael Jordan led the Bulls to their first of six NBA championships, is needed to fund $43 billion in maintenance and improvements to infrastructure across the state, James Reilly of the Metropolitan Planning Council told the audience at a City Club of Chicago luncheon. Reilly also recommended hiking vehicle registration fees by 50 percent.
Reilly’s remarks came as the Legislature returned to session in Springfield, where Democratic lawmakers and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner have spent the last year unable to reach a compromise that would give the state a budget, resolve a pension crisis or close a multibillion-dollar deficit. But the recent paralysis in the capital also comes after years of underfunding roads, bridges and transit have left those systems in decline, Reilly said.
“Everyone knows that Illinois is a fiscal wreck, not everyone knows Illinois is rapidly become a physical wreck,” Reilly said.
Less than 80 percent of the state’s roads are in “good” condition, and a third of transit systems are in good repair, Reilly said. State Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, on Monday filed a bill that incorporates most of the MPC’s plan, Reilly said.
Ted Dabrowski of the conservative government watchdog, Illinois Policy Institute, said a gas tax increase on the scale Reilly suggests is too much for taxpayers. Democratic legislators led by House Speaker Michael Madigan, have suggested raising income taxes, and residents across the state will likely see local property tax jumps as cities and towns struggle to pay make public employee pension payments, Dabrowski said.
“We would love to see great infrastructure,” Dabrowski said. “How much do our lawmakers think people in Illinois will put up with before they move someplace else?”
The state has not raised the gas tax to adjust for inflation, even as more efficient vehicles have also caused a dip in revenues, said Reilly, former CEO of the McPier Authority.
The 30-cent per-gallon tax increase would more than double the 19 cents the state currently collects on each gallon of gas, according to statistics from the American Petroleum Institute. Including other state fees, Illinois collects 30.18 cents per gallon. Cook County and Chicago residents also pay an additional 11 cents per gallon in city and county taxes.
Reilly estimated the tax and registration fee increases would cost an average person about $147 per year, and would spare drivers about $450 in vehicle repairs.
The MPC presented its plan to industry groups in recent weeks, said Matt Hart, executive director of the Illinois Trucking Association. A 50 percent increase in registration fees would cost trucking companies thousands of dollars per truck, Hart said.
“I’m here in Springfield today trying to make sure we do invest in roads,” Hart said. “We would not oppose raising the fuel tax, but we want to make sure the money goes to concrete and asphalt and bridges.”
