(The Center Square) – Gov. J.B. Pritzker is defending the stickers gas stations must post about a delayed gas tax increase despite a First Amendment lawsuit that is being drafted and expected to be filed soon.
Last week, after the governor signed the state budget package requiring the stickers announcing the delayed tax, the Illinois Fuel and Retail Association’s Josh Sharp said to expect a lawsuit.
“The state of Illinois is seeking to force businesses under the threat of fines and criminal penalties to post political speech,” Sharp said, also pointing out this is an election year.
The fine would be $500 a day for non-compliance. The sticker must read "As of July 1, 2022, the State of Illinois has suspended the inflation adjustment to the motor fuel tax through December 31, 2022. The price on this pump should reflect the suspension of the tax increase."
“There’s no political speech involved there, at all,” Pritzker said Wednesday. “And, here’s what we’re doing. We’re lowering the impact on people of the rise in prices of gas all across the world, but lowering the impact for the people here in Illinois.”
Illinois has among the highest gas taxes in the nation. The average savings from delaying the annual increase could be two to three cents a gallon for six months before it’s set to increase on Jan. 1, and then increase again July 1, 2023.
Asked why there wasn’t a required sticker for when the gas tax doubled in 2019, Pritzker didn’t respond Wednesday. In Pritzker's first year in office, the governor signed a bill into law that increased the state's gas tax from 19 cents a gallon to 38 cents. The legislation also included an automatic annual increase in the state's gas tax tied to the rate of inflation.
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