“Illinois is considering raising taxes and fees on DoorDash, Uber, Ticketmaster and toll roads” to raise $1.5 billion for Illinois transit agencies, reports the Illinois Policy Institute. “Prices for DoorDash, Uber, Ticketmaster and Illinois tolls might go up now to cover $1.5 billion for Illinois transit agencies. A real estate transfer tax for homes in the Chicago suburbs is also on the table,” IPI says.
“The Regional Transit Authority has already seen dramatic growth in its budget even as ridership remains well below pre-pandemic levels,” with ridership down 36% from pre-pandemic levels. “Spending was boosted by billions in emergency COVID funds, but with that money gone, the system is facing a $230 million fiscal gap next year.”
The proposed new taxes and fees in Illinois include:
- A $1 surcharge on all tolls. Revenue estimate: $1 billion
- A $1 delivery charge for delivery orders over $100, excluding pharmaceuticals and groceries to fund public transit. Revenue estimate: $102 million
- A 25-cent increase in CTA fares. Revenue estimate: $76 million to $78 million if 2025 CTA fare trends hold steady.
- A 10% tax on all rideshare trips in the RTA region (Cook and collar counties) to fund public transit. Revenue estimate: $132 million to $291 million
- A ticket price surcharge of $5-10 would be added to tickets at venues that contain more than 10,000 people. Revenue estimate: $150 million to $250 million
- A 25% surcharge on tolls, charged once per day, which would increase the average cost of tolls by $0.60 to fund public transit. Revenue estimate: $438.5 million
- A fee of $0.03 per kw/h tax on electric vehicle charging at public chargers to fund public transit. Revenue estimate: $3.2 million to $14.2 million with increased adoption of electric vehicles
- An extension of the Chicago Real Estate Transfer Tax to the collar counties, which taxes $1.50 for every $500 during the transfer of a property to fund public transit. Collar County dollars would be used for Metra and Pace transit needs, not for the CTA. Revenue estimate: $82 million.
Illinois already has the highest sales and property taxes in the Midwest. “Illinois’ public pensions are worst funded in U.S.,” noted the Illinois Policy Institute. Bloomberg News reported in 2023 that the “unfunded pension liability across Illinois’s five retirement systems rose 7.5% to $139.7 billion in the fiscal year that ended in June, based on the market value of their assets, according to a report from the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability on Thursday.”
Illinois showered taxpayer money on left-wing public-employee unions that help elect Democrats. When Illinois began paying illegal aliens’ healthcare costs, it cost far more than the state expected, and it had to cap the number of illegal aliens it covered, to keep spending down to $550 million rather than rapidly increasing to over $1 billion.
