CHICAGO – A gas war going on in Michigan has local dealers offering gas for 78 cents per gallon – making the state the first to go below $1 a gallon in decades. The competition to see how low they can go was verified by GasBuddy.com Monday in Michigan's north central Houghton Lake area.
Illinoisans need not fret about when the below $1 a gallon prices will hit the Prairie State. It won't be soon. Illinois' 6.25 percent sales tax adds nearly 20 cents per gallon to the price of gasoline. And in Cook County and Chicago, sales taxes add an additional 11 cents per gallon to the price.
State lawmakers fret when gas prices dip so dramatically, because the higher the per gallon cost of gasoline, the more tax revenue is scooped into the state's needy treasury.