Gasoline tax math does not add up

The Illinois gast tax article states:

“The extra 2 cents means a typical driver will pay $184 more a year, hitting low- and middle-income families hardest, the IPI noted.”

At 2 cents a gallon, a driver would have to buy 9,200 gallons of gas a year, which is over 177 gallons of gas a week to pay $184 more a year. Another way of looking at it, is that at about $4 a gallon, this low- or middle-income driver is spending $37,000 a year on gas.

Two more points:

Considering that the gas companies regularly raise and lower gas prices by many cents a gallon, I don’t see why an additional 2 cents a gallon to improve roads warrants an article. How about an article on how much of the money we pay for gas goes to corporate profits or executive salaries? It’s a lot more than 2 cents and will shock a lot of people.

The Illinois Policy Institute is a right-wing think tank and should not be used as a source. You can assume that anything that comes from them is either an outright lie or is misleading in a way that leads the recipient of the information to make such a mistake.

Jacqueline Buehring

Naperville