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Originally Posted by speeder
There are definitely taxes involved but I always heard that it was also the transportation from refinery->Chicago. That it's as far from a major refinery as you can get in a major city; the big ones are down along the gulf coast, in SoCal, Canada, etc...  |
There is a big BP refinery right next door in IN.
From an NPR report this past May:
"“First and foremost, we have to talk about the high taxes in Chicago,” she said. “About 70 cents on the gallon is what people pay in Chicago for gas taxes, really, really a high number, especially given the statewide average is 49 cents on the gallon.”
Those figures can fluctuate, but that means generally 70 to 90 cents for every gallon of gas pumped in Chicago goes to taxes.
For example, if gas costs $4.67 a gallon that means 18 cents goes to the federal government; 43 cents for the state. And if you live in Chicago, tack on another 33 cents for Cook County and the city.
That includes sales and motor fuel taxes, the latter of which goes to pay for roads and bridges and some of the capital projects.
Although increasingly that money is being diverted to pay for things like pensions.
Another factor that hits wallets particularly hard is the way all levels of government in Illinois levy sales tax on gasoline purchases. The state of Illinois alone charges 6.25 percent sales tax. Twenty years ago when gas was much cheaper that meant just pennies on the dollar. But now that can be an extra 20 cents or more per gallon since the higher the gas price, the more taxes you pay. "
http://www.wbez.org/news/why-does-chicago-still-have-such-high-gas-prices-107356