 Dylan Sharkey is with the Illinois Policy Institute. July 1st is New Year's Day in Illinois in terms of the budget, and our New Year's resolution every year is always a slew of new taxes. The gas tax increases to 47 cents per gallon and 54 cents per gallon for diesel. When you add up what people pay in gas taxes at the federal, state, and local levels, Illinoisans pay the second most in gas taxes in the nation to only California, obviously the highest in the Midwest by far.