Illinois Grocery Tax Returns, Gas Tax Increases To Kick Off July 1

ILLINOIS — While Friday marked the official halfway mark of 2023, Saturday will bring a new month, and the day Illinoisians will again begin to pay more for food and gasoline.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker suspended the state’s 1 percent grocery tax last year as a part of a plan built into the 2022 state budget designed to help families who struggled financially to pay for rising food costs hit hard by inflation.

Pritzker announced last year that the plan could save families an estimated $400,000 at the checkout counter at the grocery store, but announced the state’s grocery tax would again take hold on July 1, 2023.

The suspension of the grocery tax did not include alcoholic beverages, candy, and certab prepared foods. However, the majority of other goods were covered by the plan before the grocery tax went back into effect.

The Illinois Department of Revenue states that with the 1 percent tax added back in beginning Saturday, the tax on a grocery bill of $145.29 would be $1.45.

In addition to groceries, motorists across Illinois will also pay more at the gas pumps. The state budget calls for a mandatory increase in the gas tax. After the tax was delayed last year thanks to inflation, Illinoisans saw the state’s gas tax rate jump to 8.2 percent – costing drivers a total of 42.4 cents per gallon.

But the state’s tax bill increases each July 1, meaning that the new tax rate on a gallon of gas will jump to 45.4 cents a gallon for unleaded gas beginning on Saturday. Diesel fuel will also increase another 3 cents beginning on Saturday, jumping from just more than 49 cents a gallon to 52 cents a gallon.

According to AAA, the average price of gas in Illinois as of Friday is $3.92 per gallon, which is significantly lower than this time in 2022, when the average gallon of gas cost $5.39 per gallon.