Three Proposed Gas Tax Hikes Mean Pain At The Pump

CHICAGO (CBS) -- If local lawmakers get their way, gasoline prices could soon skyrocket.

Three new proposals would more than double state and county fuel taxes, CBS 2's Mike Parker reports.

For starters, a first-term Chicago alderman wants to pay for street repairs with revenue after raising the city gasoline tax to 12 cents a gallon. It is currently a nickel.

"All kinds of phone calls that I get in may office, the visitors that come in, 50 percent of it deals with the infrastructure," said 36th Ward Ald. Gilbert Villegas.

The plan, as one might expect, is meeting opposition from motorists.

"I think they are trying to tax everything," said Alfredo Roman. "I mean at some point they might think of trying to tax the air."

Villegas believes that residents would be willing to pay the extra seven cents per gallon "if we can make sure that the roads are nice and safe."

And there could be more hikes on the horizon.

Cook County is thinking about raising its fuel tax from six cents to 10 cents.

And there is a another proposal to play for state road construction by raising Illinois gasoline taxes from 19 cents to 49 cents.

If all of these hike were to go into effect, it could cost a car owner an extra $4.10 in local and state taxes on 10 gallons of gasoline.

Most of the pressure to come up with these new taxes comes from the budget impasse in Springfield, as there is now a $43 billion deficit in transportation funds.