Currently, the average price for a gallon of gasoline here in Illinois is right around $3.61, which is down from the $4.32 we were shelling out about a month ago. Even though gas prices in Illinois have slid a little bit, our state still has the highest gas prices in the Midwest, and the tenth-highest prices in the entire country.

While the rest of the country may see even bigger price declines, don't expect the same for Illinois. We pay the 2nd highest gas taxes in the country behind California, and we've got 2 gasoline tax hikes heading in our direction in 2023, with the earliest possibly hitting us on New Year's Day.

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This may be the dumbest way to protest gas taxes yet. (Getty Images)
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This Past Summer, Governor Pritzker Decided To Issue A 6-Month Delay On The Tax Hike That Illinois Was Supposed To Get

But I'm absolutely certain that Governor Pritzker's move had nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with the fact that 2022 is/was an election year. Zero, zip, nada.

Although, this is the same guy who, upon being elected governor in 2018 and taking office in January of 2019, doubled the per gallon tax from 19 cents to 38 cents, plus added automatic annual hikes.

He also required gas stations to post 4-inch by 8-inch signs reminding motorists that Pritzker and lawmakers delayed the tax hike.

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No head-scratching, sir. Your hair will smell like expensive gasoline. (Getty Images)
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The Next Two Gas Tax Hikes Illinois Will Get Are Coming On January 1st, And On July 1st

While there has been plenty of debate about postponing the January 1st tax hike back, it doesn't look like there was enough debate to make that happen.

So, when you combine the two scheduled gas tax hikes Illinois is facing in 2023, you're looking at an overall increase of price at the pump (just in taxes alone) of 45 cents per gallon.

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Additionally, if you're willing to cross into neighboring states for gas, you may want to stay for your holiday shopping.

Illinois has the eighth-highest sales tax in the nation, and ranks as the only Midwestern state in the top 10.

To save the most, you may want to head to Wisconsin where the combined state and average local retail tax rate is just 5.4 percent, compared to Illinois' 8.8 percent.

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

An A-Z List Of Reject Illinois License Plates

Thousands of vanity plate applications in Illinois are rejected every year. Here are 26 requests from 2022 that the state of Illinois deemed in appropriate to put on your car.

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