Illinois does not have a mileage tax. State lawmakers are considering one, though. Senate Bill 3566 would charge electric vehicle owners 1.5 cents per mile starting July 1, 2027, capped at $320 per registration year, and a separate amendment to Senate Bill 1938 would set up a broader pilot program to test per-mile charging on more vehicles. Neither has become law, and there is no program to enroll in yet.
What the Pending Bills Would Do
SB 3566 is the more concrete of the two proposals. It would create a Road Usage Charge Program run by the Secretary of State — not the Illinois Department of Transportation — that applies only to electric vehicles. The rate is 1.5 cents per mile with a hard annual cap of $320. Beginning July 1, 2028, both the rate and the cap would adjust each year based on the Consumer Price Index.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois General Assembly – Bill Status of SB3566
The amendment to SB 1938 takes a wider view. It would create an “Illinois Road Usage Charge Act” as a framework for a statewide pilot that charges drivers based on miles traveled rather than fuel purchased. The idea is to test the concept before any full rollout.
Both bills are still moving through the legislative process. If you have seen older references to Senate Bill 2212 or House Bill 3395 as the vehicles for this idea, those numbers do not match the current road usage charge legislation in the 104th General Assembly. The bills to follow are SB 3566 and SB 1938.
Why Illinois Is Looking at a Per-Mile Charge
Illinois funds its roads mostly through the motor fuel tax, currently 48.3 cents per gallon of gasoline for the period from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026.2Illinois Department of Revenue. Informational Bulletin FY 2025-23 That revenue stream is losing ground. Vehicles keep getting more efficient, and more drivers are switching to electric cars that buy no gasoline at all, even though they still put wear on the same roads.
The state has also committed to putting one million electric vehicles on Illinois roads by 2030, a goal written into the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act.3Illinois.gov. 1 Million EVs: Inside the State’s Plan for Electrifying the Transportation Sector Every EV that replaces a gas car is one more driver who contributes nothing to the fuel tax base.
In a December 2025 report, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning noted that motor fuel tax revenues have grown roughly 1.9 percent annually since 2020 while construction costs have risen nearly 10 percent per year over the same period. The agency recommended that Illinois eventually replace the motor fuel tax with a per-mile charge.4Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. Advancing a Road Usage Charge in Illinois
Supporters also make an equity argument. Under the fuel tax, drivers of older, less efficient cars pay more per mile than drivers of newer efficient ones. A per-mile charge would spread road costs based on how much you actually drive rather than how much gas you burn.
How Electric Vehicles Are Taxed in Illinois Right Now
Illinois already collects a flat $100 annual surcharge from EV owners on top of the regular registration fee. The statute says the surcharge is collected “in lieu of the payment of motor fuel taxes,” and the money goes to the Road Fund.5Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Vehicle Code 625 ILCS 5 – Section 3-805 It applies to first-division motor vehicles and to second-division vehicles weighing 8,000 pounds or less that run on an electric engine without motor fuel.
Under SB 3566, the per-mile charge would take the place of that flat $100 for EV owners who enroll. The practical difference is that a flat fee treats someone who drives 5,000 miles the same as someone who drives 25,000. At 1.5 cents per mile, a driver logging 12,000 miles a year would pay $180, and someone driving 20,000 miles would pay $300. The $320 cap means no EV owner would pay more than that in a registration year regardless of how far they drove.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois General Assembly – Bill Status of SB3566
How Miles Would Be Tracked
Neither bill spells out exactly how mileage would be reported, but programs already running in other states point to what Illinois would likely offer. Drivers typically choose among several options that trade convenience against privacy.
- Manual odometer reporting, where you periodically submit a reading through a mobile app photo or an in-person inspection. There is no location tracking, but the method cannot separate in-state from out-of-state miles.
- OBD-II plug-in devices that connect to the vehicle’s diagnostic port and record mileage automatically, transmitting data over a cellular connection. GPS-enabled versions can distinguish in-state driving.
- Smartphone apps with GPS that log trips and can tell Illinois miles apart from out-of-state travel. Drivers uncomfortable with continuous location tracking can generally choose one of the non-GPS options instead.
In existing state programs, tracking data flows to a private third-party vendor rather than directly to the state. The vendor processes the raw data and reports only the total miles driven for billing. When a driver picks a GPS option, the vendor strips out location data before sending anything to the government.6RUC America. Road Usage Charge Data Privacy
Out-of-state miles are a real design question for anyone who drives across the region. A non-GPS method cannot subtract miles driven in Indiana, Wisconsin, or Missouri. Some state programs simply charge for all miles and accept the imprecision; others let drivers file for adjustments. Illinois would need to decide which approach to take.
Privacy and Data Handling
Privacy is the concern that generates the most pushback on this kind of program, and it is a fair one. Any system that logs where and when you drive builds a picture of daily life. The structural answer used in other states is to put a private vendor between the driver and the state and to bar the vendor from sending anything but total miles to the government.
Illinois has not yet written its own privacy rules. If legislation passes, the data-retention limits, breach-notification requirements, and penalties for vendor misuse will be the details worth reading closely.
What Has Not Been Decided
The distance between where Illinois is now and a working mileage tax is longer than the bill text suggests.
- There is no pilot program. Unlike Oregon, Utah, and other states that have received federal grants to test road usage charges, Illinois is not currently a recipient or a participating coalition member under the Federal Highway Administration’s program.7Federal Highway Administration. User-Based Alternative Revenue Mechanism Programs – Recipients and Partners
- A feasibility study is the recommended next step. CMAP called for a formal study covering rate-setting, technology, interstate reciprocity, equity, and transit funding before a pilot launches.4Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. Advancing a Road Usage Charge in Illinois
- There is no enrollment portal, no reporting form, and no payment process. Those would be built through rulemaking after legislation passes.
- The scope could grow. SB 3566 targets electric vehicles only, but CMAP envisions a charge that eventually replaces the motor fuel tax for all drivers. Extending a per-mile fee to gasoline vehicles would be a separate political fight.
Federal money for state road usage charge research runs through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which authorizes highway funding programs through September 30, 2026.8Federal Highway Administration. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Illinois would either need to compete for those grants or fund a pilot from state appropriations.
For now, Illinois EV owners pay the $100 annual surcharge and nothing more per mile. If SB 3566 becomes law as written, the earliest any driver would owe a per-mile charge is July 2027. You can follow both SB 3566 and SB 1938 on the Illinois General Assembly’s bill-status page.