The Illinois Mileage tracker tax is back. The new proposal includes a provision to have a tracker in applicable vehicles and 1.5 cent per mile tax.


[Q: Good Idea or bad plan?]
Senate Bill 3566 would establish a new Road Usage Charge Program. The per mile charge would require tracking devices to be installed in EV vehicles or self report mileage.
This new 2026 proposal is a different from the per mile/tracker legislation that was proposed in 2025.
The law mandates the new tax would only be applied only to EV vehicles (for now), it would give drivers the option to pay 1.5 cents per mile, or an annual fee of $320 to the state. That fee would be charged on top of Illinois’ standard vehicle registration cost, which is currently $151, meaning EV owners would pay at least $471 per year under today’s rates.
Note: There are no provisions in the legislation to lower gasoline taxes to offset the new revenue the state would receive from EV’s.
State Sen. Ram Villivalam (D‑Chicago), is the same legislator who proposed pilot program that involved vehicle tracking in 2025. Villivalam is same legislator who is proposing this legislation. The 2025 legislation did not pass.
It should also be noted that for the current bill under consideration, effective in 2028, the cost per mile would increase.
Current Status
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Purpose of the Proposed Tax
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How the Pilot Program Would Work
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Comparisons to Other States
Other states have implemented similar programs:
- Oregon: Drivers pay 2 cents per mile, with registration fee discounts.
- Utah: Electric vehicle drivers pay 1.6 cents per mile, tracked via devices or apps.
- Virginia: Has active mileage-based tax programs for certain vehicles. 2These programs help ensure that all vehicles contribute fairly to road maintenance, regardless of fuel type.
Existing Mileage Weight Tax
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Summary
- No statewide mileage tax currently existsfor general drivers in Illinois.
- Proposed legislation explored a pilot program with estimated rates of 3–4 cents per mile.
- The tax is intended to supplement road funding, especially for electric and fuel-efficient vehicles.
- Similar programs exist in other states, but Illinois has not implemented a permanent mileage tax. 3Drivers should continue to pay the existing gas tax and monitor legislative updates for any future pilot programs or changes.
Illinois has one of the highest gas tax rates in the nation, with the state’s per-gallon tax rate on gasoline rising to $0.483 per gallon beginning on July 1.
That rate does not include taxes levied on retailers for petroleum products, along with sales taxes and even municipal tax rates, which are allowed under Illinois law.
When all of that is combined, Illinois drivers pay an average of 67.1 cents per gallon in fuel taxes, trailing only California in that category, according to NerdWallet.
Since those fuel taxes go toward maintaining roads and bridges in the state, it’s imperative that the state raises enough money to help pay for that maintenance. Due to improvements in fuel efficiency and the more widespread adoption of electric vehicles however, those tax revenues have not been going up fast enough to address wear-and-tear on area roadways, leaving states across the country struggling to keep up with maintenance costs, according to the Brookings Institute.
As a result, more states are weighing different options to pay for maintenance, including instituting tolls and charging drivers per mile driven, regardless of the type of vehicle that they are driving.
What’s in Illinois’ version of the mileage tax bill?
The bill in question, Senate Bill 1938, would have created a statewide pilot program to assess user fees for the number of miles traveled on public roadways.
The idea behind the pilot program was to evaluate the “potential for mileage-based revenue as an alternative to the current system of taxing highway use through motor fuel taxes,” according to the text of the legislation.
The program would include at least 1,000 volunteers, and the pilot would be required to last for at least one year. Participants would have received rebates for their motor fuel taxes incurred during the course of the year.
In addition, the per-mile pricing would have varied based on the time of day drivers are using roadways, and what type of roadway they were driving on at a given time.
How would mileage be tracked?
Some critics of mileage taxes have argued that requirements to use electronic tracking devices would violate the civil liberties of drivers, arguing that multiple Constitutional amendments cover such rights.
Illinois’ system would have allowed for drivers to use such electronic devices, but would have also allowed them to explore other tracking means, including taking photos of the odometers in their vehicles.
What is the current status of the legislation?
SB 1938 was first introduced by State Sen. Ram Villivalam in early February, and was referred to the transportation committee during the spring session of the Illinois General Assembly.
A vote on the bill in the committee was postponed in March, and the measure was never brought up for a vote before the end of the session. It was re-referred to the assignments committee on June 2, according to the General Assembly’s website.
How much would Illinois’ tax rate be?
While no specific tax rate was included in the proposed legislation, the expectation is that the Illinois tax rate would be around three-to-four cents per mile driven on state roadways, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
For context, a driver who racks up 10,000 miles on Illinois roadways under a three-cent tax would pay $300 in taxes for the year. If their vehicle gets 30 miles per gallon on average, they would pay roughly $161 a year in Illinois fuel taxes.
Do any other states have mileage taxes?
According to a 2024 report from the Tax Foundation,several states, including Oregon, Utah, and Virginia have instituted active programs to charge tax per mile.
In Utah, only drivers of electric cars can enroll, paying $0.016 per mile. It’s tracked either via an onboard device or a smartphone app, providing location data.
In Oregon, drivers who sign up for their program pay two cents per mile, but are given a discount on fees paid for their vehicle registrations, saving between $35 and $115 annually, according to officials.
Legislators there are mulling a new bill that would raise the state’s gas tax from 40 cents per gallon to 55 cents per gallon. That would take place over a period of three years.
In addition, the road usage tax would increase to 5% of the state’s gas tax, raising it to 2.75 cents per mile.















Jelly Roll Wins His First-Ever Grammys and Urges Deeper Relationship With Jesus
Jelly Roll Wins His First-Ever Grammys and Urges Deeper Relationship With Jesus
Unlike many of his fellow artists at the 68th annual Grammys, Jelly Roll refused to weigh in on the political climate in America during the 2026 awards show.The hip-hop-country hyphenate grew passionate about God from the Crypto.com stage.
Jelly Roll has never been one to shy away from his faith in public settings, and he leaned into it at the Grammys Sunday as he took his first Recording Academy prizes.
“First of all, Jesus, I hear you and I’m listening, Lord, I am listening, Lord,” he began his fiery acceptance speech after winning the new award of best contemporary country album for his 2024 record Beautifully Broken. “I’d have killed myself if it wasn’t for you and Jesus” he said after thanking his wife.
Beautifully Broken is Jelly’s 2024 collab-heavy redemption-journey record that hit No. 1, and he drew on its themes as he continued his speech.
“There was a time in my life, y’all, when I was broken. That’s why I wrote this album. I didn’t think I had a chance y’all,” he said, in a preacherly cadence. “I was a horrible human.” But then, he noted, he found a Bible and music while in a jail cell and “I believed that music had the power to change my life and God had the power to change my life.”
He finished his speech with gusto. “I want to tell y’all right now,” he said, growing even more passionate as Reba McEntire looked on gleefully from the audience. “Jesus is for everybody. Jesus is not owned by any one political party. Jesus is Jesus. Anybody can have a relationship with him. I love you Lord.”
With their heavily produced performances, the Grammys can lack spontaneity and intimacy, but Jelly’s speech provided a refreshing counterbalance as he bared his soul and asked the audience to do the same.
Jelly Roll, the moniker of Jason Bradley DeFord, is a prolific genre-defying singer-songwriter who came to prominence in the early 2020’s with the alt-rock addiction lament “Dead Man Walking” and “Son of a Sinner,” a country power ballad about navigating one’s flawed humanity. After previously spending time in jail for aggravated robbery and other crimes, he has spoken openly about those mistakes and music and religion as paths out of dark places.
Jelly had reason to be joyous Sunday: he won all three Grammys he was nominated for after striking out on his four previous noms. He also took best country duo/group performance for his hopeful singalong “Amen” with Shaboozey and best contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song for his worshipful blues-rock duet “Hard Fought Hallelujah” with Brandon Lake.
Despite the sly reference to party affiliation in his speech, Jelly deflected a political question in the pressroom shortly after, saying, “People shouldn’t care to hear my opinion. I’m a dumb redneck” and “I hate to be the artist that sounds aloof, but I just feel so disconnected from what’s happening.” But then he almost directly contradicted that thought when he said a second later, “I have a lot to say about it, and I’m going to in the next week, and everybody’s going to hear exactly what I have to say about it the most loud and clear way I’ve ever spoken in my life.”
The musician is, to be sure, often eager to speak about his faith at live performances and award shows. “The world is hearing about Jesus like they haven’t in decades right now,” he said from the stage of the Christian-themed Dove Awards last year, in a similarly rousing speech, as he cited Matthew ministering to the needy and encouraged the audience to do the same. “They’ve heard of Jesus. Now show them Jesus,” he intoned.
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