Getting taxed out of Illinois

We have a new governor for one week and the House and Senate, Madigan and Cullerton, with the new governor keeping all options open, are already talking about increasing our gas tax by 19 cents per gallon for a total of 50.8 cents - the ninth highest in the country. Why don't they raise it 29 cents and we could be the leader with the highest tax in the country?

The federal government wants better gas mileage, and now the state is complaining that we don't use enough gas for the tax to keep out roads repaired.

Gail Philbin of the Illinois Environmental Council wrote Feb. 3 in the Fence Post that if Illinois passed the Clean Cars Act we would get increased fuel efficiency and save hundreds of dollars a year at the gas pump. Would that mean that we get another 20- or 30-cent-per-gallon increase in our gas tax? Make up your mind what you want.

Excuse me, but aren't we $3 billion in debt now? If this passes, all the people will need to cut something else in their household budget to pay for it. What we want from our state government is to stop spending, do minimum maintenance and pay off the debt. We should write to them and tell them that there are a lot of people out of work, losing their homes and not able to pay bills. This is on top of their desire to raise the state income tax because we are one of the lower states. Time to move to another state.

Robert Chmela

Elgin