Lake County Gazette

Lake County District 3 Board member Dick Barr fears the doubling of the state’s gas tax, making Illinois home to the second-highest overall gas tax burden in the country, is just the tip of the iceberg.

“First and foremost, the increase is tied to the Consumer Price Index, which means as inflation grows so will the tax,” Barr told the Lake County Gazette. "Even if gas prices were to fall drastically, the tax will increase, taking an ever-increasing share of the cost of gas.”

With the hike to 38 cents per gallon, the average motorist is Illinois is projected to pay at least $100 more this year in fuel-related costs as part of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s overall plan to generate upwards of $1 billion in added revenue from the new tax. In all, lawmakers ended the spring session by passing legislation that paves the way for $4.7 billion in new taxes and added fees.

Lake County District 3 Board member Dick Barr | https://www.lakecountyil.gov

Barr said the pain felt by the tax increase on gas stings particularly hard for Lake County-area residents.

“I hear multiple accounts per day of Lake County residents headed north of the border to not just buy their gas, but to also buy their groceries,” Barr said. “While they are there, they are also going to [Wisconsin's] restaurants, movie theaters, checking out their car lots and stopping in their furniture stores. Every dollar spent north of the border is less opportunity for the businesses of Lake County and those that they employ.”

Barr hinted that he finds it especially disheartening to know that local lawmakers such as state Rep. Sam Yingling (D-Round Beach Lake) and state Sen. Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake) supported the legislation.

“The representatives and senators who voted for this tax hike think of the public as a never-ending source of money,” Barr said. “They are out of touch with how cash-strapped the public is. They see a problem and think the solution for all is to raise taxes. Illinois does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.”

 Finally, Barr laments that things may get worse before they get better.

“As long as Illinois taxpayers are willing to let the state get away with runaway spending, refusing to make cuts in spending, transforming how we handle pensions in the state and how the state funds schools, there is no light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “Eventually, the state will have no choice but to transfer all of the pension debt to the subordinate municipal governments, who can file bankruptcy, and destroy the retirement of a whole generation of people.”