Today’s number: $1.8 billion
Thursday, Mar 5, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I don’t disagree about the need for more infrastructure spending, it’s just that this is a pretty darned big ask…
The Transportation for Illinois Coalition argues the current setup of the motor fuel tax, which drivers pay on a gallon of gas each time they fill up at the pump, falls woefully short of properly funding upkeep of roads and bridges — not to mention improvements. The group says Illinois needs to pump another $1.8 billion a year into the state’s transportation system to cover day-to-day maintenance as well as pay for a borrowing plan to finance long-term upgrades.
While the coalition has backed away from specifics in an effort to begin fresh negotiations with Rauner, its general outline calls for raising the gas tax to keep up with inflation. It also has pitched a menu of other possibilities, including eliminating tax exemptions for ethanol, increasing drivers’ fees, expanding the sales tax to cover services ranging from auto repairs and oil changes, and taxing the sale of food and prescription drugs.
Illinois imposes a base tax rate of 19 cents per gallon for gasoline and 21.5 cents a gallon for diesel, though other fractions of a penny are added on to pay for costs associated with environmental cleanup and underground storage of fuel. That doesn’t include the 6.25 percent sales tax the state also collects on each gallon of fuel, federal taxes, or the variety of other levies some counties and cities like Chicago also pile on top.
- Demoralized - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 1:25 pm:
This is the situation you get into when proper maintenance has been deferred. The numbers get bigger and bigger as you go along.
- Team Sleep - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 1:28 pm:
TFIC’s plan is completely solid and actuarially sound. They put a lot of effort into it. Perhaps my biggest praise for their work is that they are asking for funding and they actually put forth a viable (if unpopular) revenue source to pay for the repairs and long-term program.
- Federalist - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 1:29 pm:
For a Governor who does not want to raise taxes he sure does not mind raising taxes.
Personally, the only thing I would support would be raise gas taxes based upon the CPI-U
- Ghost - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 1:30 pm:
or just eliminate tax deductions and credits for people with gross income of 1mil or more.
- A guy - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 1:37 pm:
It used to be you could buy stuff for lots of millions.
- foster brooks - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 1:38 pm:
Quit using liquid salt and you will increase the life of bridges by 25%
- DuPage - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 1:56 pm:
Money from the road funds is diverted and used to give money to other things. Many of these things might deserve funding, but have nothing to do with roads or bridges. They should be considered in the general budget, not hidden in the fine print of the transportation budget.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 1:57 pm:
Iowa just passed a 10c a gallon MFT increase, with bipartisan support and a GOP gov like ours. When gas prices jump up and down these days 20c a gallon at the blink of an eye, few would notice it.
- Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 1:59 pm:
We just spent $31B over 6 years on Illinois Jobs Now, plus another $1.1B last year.
While most of the state is concerned about devastating budget cuts, they think this is the right time to ask for even more? As the article says, it will be hard enough to get legislators to vote for one tax increase to survive 2016, much less a second tax increase for this.
- RNUG - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 2:17 pm:
== eliminating tax exemptions for ethanol ==
Even though a concensus around the country is starting to build against corn based ethanol, I don’t see this happening in ADM’s home state.
- Skeptic - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 2:25 pm:
“as well as pay for a borrowing plan to finance long-term upgrades” How much would it be to just fix what we’ve got?
“Mileage would be tracked either with a transponder similar to an I-PASS used to automatically deduct tolls or a more detailed GPS system” Yup, that’s going to work. Oops, I forgot my GPS. Nope, I’m from out of state, I don’t have a GPS. That wasn’t my GPS you were tracking, there’s been some mistake.
- Arizona Bob - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 2:35 pm:
@RNUG
=Even though a consensus around the country is starting to build against corn based ethanol, I don’t see this happening in ADM’s home state.=
Consider this, RNUG. about 40% of all corn produced in the US goes to ethanol production. If you stopped it (as they should), the record corn production and productivity (Global warming , where is thy sting?) would allow to keep farmers solvent while dropping feed prices that will lower consumer meat costs, reduce global grain prices so that those in poorer nations can actually afford to eat, and reduce gas prices at the pump since ethanol blending adds above average unit volume cost, and refined ethanol costs (especially when Fed subsidy prices are included) have been far higher than refined gasoline costs.
But, gee, why would we want more affordable food and less expensive gasoline when we can have an ethanol boondoggle that hurts everyone except large farm owners (mostly corporate) and middle men like ADM?
- qcexaminer - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 2:51 pm:
6 degrees, even with the 10 cent increase, Iowa’s gas prices are still lower than Illinois.
- very old soil - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 3:04 pm:
Bob
You have no clue about the structure of Illinois agriculture. The largest farming operation in Illinois (that I know of) is run by two brothers. The largest livestock operation is family run.
- Norseman - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 3:09 pm:
=== … with bipartisan support and a GOP gov like ours ===
Iowa doesn’t have a GOP gov like us! He actually governs.
- AC - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 3:27 pm:
Increasing the gas tax also helps encourage the move toward more efficient cars. They’re usage based, and roughly correlate to wear and tear on the roads. Increasing fees has few positives, and there’s something less honest about a tax increase in the from of a fee.
- bored now - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 3:47 pm:
the need for infrastructure replacement or repair is critically important. i think most people understand that you can pay for it now, with planned interruptions (and fewer dollars), or you can pay for it later — perhaps at the cost of human lives…
- Amalia - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 4:04 pm:
Rauner slashed several million from Ceasefire. better to use in some way on infrastructure.
- Bogey Golfer - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 4:12 pm:
@AC, which is why increasing the gas tax no longer makes sense. As stated in prior posts, the EPA is mandating that by 2025 cars attain 50+ mpg. Instead the state sales tax needs to be bumped which is a percent of cost fee.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 4:36 pm:
6 degrees, even with the 10 cent increase, Iowa’s gas prices are still lower than Illinois.
Gasbuddy.com begs to differ with you. Today, the site says Iowa is at $2.50 statewide average and Illinois is at $2.44, even including Chicago’s notoriously high prices.
Iowa doesn’t have a GOP gov like us! He actually governs.
LOL
- Emily Booth - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 5:46 pm:
This task is over Rauner’s head. His stage is national and his marquee issues are the union and not raising taxes.
- Wordslinger - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 5:48 pm:
Ethanol is a joke. Consumes more energy to produce than it provides, and trashes fresh water.
Enough already with the corn welfare, which is a transfer to chemical companies, not farmers.
- Angry Chicagoan - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 6:34 pm:
Actually, all general revenue streams. Shouldn’t leave the income tax out of it.
- Former IDOT GUY - Thursday, Mar 5, 15 @ 10:56 pm:
The genral assembly, through CMS, milks almsot 500 million a year out of IDOTS Federal Road Fund money. How? Buildings we owned were “transfered” to CMS and we now have to pay rent on them. We purchase vehicles and pay a “lease” fee to cms. They are supposed to maintain them, but once a vehicle cuts into CMS’s “profits”, they redline the vehicle and we have to buy another. Computers, same as vehicles.
- Huh? - Friday, Mar 6, 15 @ 7:49 am:
“Ethanol is a joke.”
That was not a nice thing to say about a bourbon, vodka, scotch or other fine distilled beverage.
Now to the post, raising the gas tax will only provide more money to sweep into the general revenue fund, just like the most recent sweep of $54 million. Depending on a project’s funding, that $54 million could have leveraged $216 million from the FHWA.
- HappyToaster - Friday, Mar 6, 15 @ 8:38 am:
There’s a tendency to throw everything into the bucket in these sorts of studies, even if it’s some rural road that only sees a couple of cars a day, but OTOH older people see a billion and think “that’s a lot of money” w/o adjusting for inflation.
Truth is probably somewhere in the middle.