NW Illinois News

First-term Illinois state Rep. Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport) is pushing a pair of bills aimed at repealing a newly enacted law that caps the tax credit for motor-vehicle trade-ins at $10,000.

The new law was passed during the spring session and is slated to take effect on Jan 1, 2020. Chesney is hoping that House bills 3890 and 3891 will change that by restoring the tax credit and assuring that consumers are only required to pay taxes on the part of the vehicle that was utilized when it was in their possession.

“Governor Pritzker and his Democratic supermajority are fond of saying their revenue-extraction policies are only aimed at the pocketbooks of super-wealthy Illinoisans,” Chesney said in a blog posted to his website. “However, the super-poor need to get to their jobs just the same as the super-wealthy. Increasing licensing fees, fees on trailers – including work trailers – increased gas taxes and, now, double-taxation of vehicle purchases all hit the pocketbooks of the working poor and middle-income families harder than they do the wealthy.”

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker

Chesney argues that the new law amounts to double-taxation for the state’s most financially vulnerable. He adds that it also figures to slow new car sales and growth for the industry as a whole.  

“At some point, the shine wears off the apple,” Chesney said. “Those who say on their glossy propaganda that they stand up for the working poor and middle-income would be wise to quit thinking about how they plan to respond to what they say and, rather, actively listen to what all Illinoisans are screaming. They cannot afford all these tax and fee increases.”

Chesney said he is hoping to get HB 3890 and HB 3891 enacted as law by the close of the fall veto session.

“I urge my colleagues who purport to stand up for the working poor and middle-income to join me in doing so,” he said.