A cheap political stunt!

"they voted for me the first time, they're probably still stupid enough to vote for me a second time" 

Beetlejuice hopes to waive 3-cents-a-gallon gas tax hike until Dec. 31 to ease pain at pump. Thinks the voters will go ga ga for less than 1% and put Beetlejuice back in office, so that the city can be plundered by peaceful protesters, again
If the plan is approved, the city would forfeit about $18 million by temporarily reducing the gas tax. The tax money pays for snow removal, street paving, bridge maintenance and related personnel costs.
By Fran Spielman
March 25, 2022 02:00 PM



Mayor Lori Lightfoot proposes to temporarily reduce the city’s gas tax by 3 cents a gallon to help motorists. The move could cost the city about $18 million.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file


Mayor Lori Lightfoot wants to roll back her 3-cents-a-gallon gas tax increase until Dec. 31 to provide relief for motorists squeezed by skyrocketing gas prices, even though an influential alderperson warned the temporary break would be viewed as a “political stunt.”

Ald. Michelle Harris (8th), the mayor’s City Council floor leader, acknowledged a 3-cent break is a drop in the gas tank with prices hovering around $5 a gallon.

“Every little bit helps when people are struggling. … If it’s 3 cents on a gallon, that’s 3 cents on a gallon I ain’t got to pay,” Harris said. “She’s not eliminating it altogether. She’s just saying that, while things are so horrible financially, she wants to reduce it temporarily.”



Finance Committee Chairman Scott Waguespack (32nd) added: “It is mostly helping those people that are in need of saving every penny they can during the price surge.”




The tax had been expected to be up for a vote at a Finance Committee meeting scheduled for Monday. But late Friday afternoon, that meeting was canceled and the mayor’s office issued a statement:


“It is important that the City steps up and does its part to provide relief during a time where we are seeing record-breaking gas prices. As the Mayor said yesterday, our team is currently working through plans to create a unique and impactful policy that will serve the needs of our residents with diverse transportation choices. Once that plan is finalized, it will be taken up as part of the Budget Committee.”

The city’s gas tax, currently 8 cents a gallon, generates $64.9 million a year for snow removal, street paving, bridge maintenance and related personnel costs. Forfeiting the 3-cent increase for the rest of the year would cost the city roughly $18 million.

Lightfoot’s 2021 “pandemic budget” raised the tax by 3 cents a gallon, or 60%, on Jan. 1, 2021. The increase had been authorized by the General Assembly when the state’s gas tax was doubled to bankroll Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s $45 billion infrastructure program.


More recently, Pritzker proposed a gas tax freeze.

Over the past two weeks, former mayoral challenger Willie Wilson has held two wildly popular gas giveaways, offering struggling motorists $1.2 million total in free gas at $50 a tank.