Pritzker Plan To Save Illinoisans $1B On Gas, Groceries, Taxes

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is set to announce a plan on Wednesday that will save taxpayers nearly $1 billion in the next year by cutting taxes on groceries, gas and on property taxes, according to multiple reports.

Pritzker, who faces re-election this year, will announce the tax-cutting plan when he offers his State of the State Address along with his annual budget address, Illinois Lt. Gov. Andy Manar said on Monday.

Manar told reporters on Monday that the plan is being announced to provide relief for Illinois taxpayers who have been hit hard by a surge in inflation that is pushing 7 percent nationally that is “taking a bite out of people’s pocketbooks,” the Lt. Governor said.

Pritzker's proposal, which he has called the Illinois Family Relief Plan, recognizes the state's speedy economic recovery from COVD-19-related hardships, while promoting Pritzker's three balanced budgets, the billions of dollars in backlogged bills and other debt paid off, and the state's improved credit ratings, Manar told reporters on Monday.

Pritzker's Republican challenger for governor, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, called the plan an election year gimmick.

Under the plan, Illinois 1 percent grocery tax would be suspended for one year, which Manar said would save taxpayers $360 million over the one-year hiatus. The Associated Press reported that local governments would still get the money, but that the state will replace it.

Pritzker’s plan would also freeze the state’s gasoline tax at 39.2 cents per gallon. The tax was doubled in 2019 to provide funding to Pritzker’s $45 million state construction plan and was set to increase by 6.9 percent in July without a freeze, the AP reported.

Illinois currently has the nation’s sixth-highest gas tax, according to a Wisconsin-based company that tracks tax-regulated industries across the country. The freezing of the gas tax will take an estimated $135 million away from the construction plan, but Manar said the federal infrastructure plan that was passed in January would keep funding coming in for Illinois projects.

Property owners will also see a break, according to the plan. Property owners will see a tax rebate of up to $300 with residents being able to get a tax credit of up to 5 percent of what they pay on their property, the AP reported.

Single taxpayers earning less than $250,000 could see that credit doubled in the form of a state rebate, according to the plan. This rebate will cost the state an estimated $475 million, the AP reported.