Illinois drivers pay 77.96 cents per gallon in federal and state taxes, according to data recently released by the American Petroleum Institute. The tax rate is second only to California, where drivers pay 85.38 per gallon. Pennsylvania ranked third, according to the study, at a rate of 77.1 cents per gallon.

The state doubled its gas tax in 2019 when the tax jumped from 38 cents a gallon. On July 1, the gas tax increased again by a half-cent per gallon, depending on the blend of gas drivers are pumping into their cars.

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According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of regular gas in Illinois was $3.42 as of Wednesday. That’s the highest price in the Midwest, compared to $3.00 a gallon in Iowa, $3.16 in Indiana, $3.29 in Michigan and $2.87 in Missouri.

Before doubling the gas tax and indexing the tax to automatic yearly increases tied to inflation, Illinois drivers paid $1.3 billion in taxes in Fiscal Year 2019. In Fiscal Year 2020, drivers paid $2.3 billion, Patch previously reported.

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Illinois Policy reported last month that gas station owners are frustrated by the fact that Illinois officials do not seem to be concerned with how the taxes affect station owners’ business or the drivers who are subject to the gas tax.

“It’s politically expedient to say you care, but when you pass regressive taxes like this it shows you do not really care about the rest of the state or your poor,” said Robert Forsyth, a Belleville resident who operates 79 Moto Mart gas and convenience stores in six Midwest states.

The state gas tax hike in 2019 cost the average motorist about $100 more a year, according to an Illinois Policy Institute analysis.

In addition to its second-ranked gas tax, Illinois residents also pay the nation’s second-highest property taxes, trailing only New Jersey.

US News and World Report reported earlier this year that an Illinois resident with a house valued at $217,500 can expect to pay $4,942, which represents an effective tax rate of 2.27 percent. In New Jersey, homeowners face a tax rate of 2.49 percent, which would put the tax on the same home at $5,419.

The report surveyed all 50 states and used U.S. Census Bureau data to determine the states’ effective real-estate tax rate by dividing the median real-estate tax payment by the state’s median home price, then using that rate to determine the tax on a $217,500 house, the median home value nationally.

In Illinois, the average home price is $194,500 according to data, which is well below the national average. Illinois is one of four states where the effective tax rate is higher than 2 percent, joining New Jersey, New Hampshire (2.18 percent) and Connecticut (2.14 percent).