It’s a gas … until you have to pay for it

On July 1, Illinois’ motor fuel tax jumped from 45 cents to 47 cents a gallon. Those filling up with diesel fuel also will see an increase of slightly more than three percent, with prices increasing from 52.9 cents a gallon to 54.5 cents.

According to the Illinois Policy Institute, the state has the second-highest gas taxes in the nation behind California’s 60 cents a gallon, forcing most drivers to pay $184 more a year in gas taxes compared to 2019.

Lawmakers doubled the 19-cent motor fuel tax in 2019 to fund a massive capital program — and they approved annual adjustments tied to inflation. Rising road construction costs paved over any effort to roll that back. In fact, Illinois motor fuel tax increase joins a litany of municipal and county taxes imposed on gasoline around the state. For example, DuPage County levies 9.4 cents per gallon; McHenry, 8.3 cents; Kane and Will, 4.9 cents; and Lake County tacks 4.7 cents onto every gallon you buy. Considered a “regressive” tax, it affects young, old, rich and poor alike.

“ … By the early 1920s, states faced a growing constituency of largely urban drivers wanting urban roads and federal willingness to match state spending on rural roads and roads between major urban centers, but no good funding source. No state had a broad-based sales tax and relatively few had income taxes,” the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation reported. “Thus, states made the reasonable choice of taxing motorists to generate matching funds to get federal grants.”

States with isolated, rural populations — such as Oregon, North Dakota, New Mexico and Colorado — were the first to adopt a gas tax in 1919. Kentucky followed a year later. But those states with large urban population centers — such as Illinois, New York and New Jersey — took longer.

“ … Their main need for road funding was for urban roads, which the federal government would not subsidize,” according to the Tax Foundation.

The June 15, 1927, edition of the Chicago Tribune reported that a two-cent-per-gallon tax would be implemented in Illinois on Aug. 1 — generating $13,000 that year. Last fiscal year, ending June 30, 2024, Illinois collected $2.9 billion in gas tax revenues.

It seems Rep. John Devine of Dixon may have had it right when he objected to the first Illinois gas tax all those years ago:

“Direct taxation is as high now as this legislature dare make it,” Devine told the Tribune. “The majority of the people do not want the tax, but the political influence and the farmer influence is too strong. This is but paving the way for a three-cent tax, then a four, then a five-cent tax.”

If only.

Drowning deaths

Of all the ways to “shuffle off this mortal coil,” drowning would be among the worst. Certainly, those living near the Des Plaines River have a healthy respect for water and havoc it can cause.

Still, I was surprised when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported a spike in the number of drowning deaths. Typically, about 4,000 people drown each year in the United States. But following the COVID-19 pandemic, that number climbed to more than 4,500 each year between 2020 and 2022.

The highest drowning rates occurred among 1- to 4-year-olds and those over 65. This very real health threat was underscored by a rash of Lake Michigan drownings this summer. During our most recent heat wave, emergency personnel seemingly were retrieving someone out of the water at Montrose Beach several times a week — dead or barely alive.

By comparison, National Safety Council statistics show 10,300 Americans drowned in 1913, and just 3,542 drowned in 1992. The CDC lists drowning as the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4 and the second leading cause of unintentional injury death for children ages 5 to 14. In 2023, 20 Illinois children downed.

What the heck is going on?

Dave Benjamin of Homewood, co-founder and co-executive director of the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project (glsrp.org), said 36 people already have drowned in the Great Lakes this year — something he characterized as “situation normal.”

A lifeguard shortage, rip currents, winds and “upwelling,” which can force cold water near the shore, are contributing factors. But the largest culprit is a lack of swimming expertise. According to the CDC, an estimated 40 million adults do not know how to swim — many of them minorities. Women and older adults also appear to be more at risk.

“Knowing how to swim is not water safety,” Benjamin said. “We teach someone to swim when they are 7, but now they are 40. … Knowing how to run does not mean you can run a marathon. Swimming is an endurance sport. When we do our presentations, we tell them a person needs to be able to go 100 yards without stopping. Can you swim the length of a football field?”

Benjamin finds the lack of a concerted public health strategy to combat drowning deaths disturbing … and frustrating. “We spend $7 to $8 billion to protect the Great Lakes, but we spend nothing to protect people from the Great Lakes,” he said.

• Kurt Begalka is executive director of the Des Plaines History Center. He may be reached at kbegalka@desplaineshistory.org.