If every household in Monroe County spends an additional $3.50 per day that they are currently spending outside of the county, local business sales will increase by more than $18.5 million per year. Monroe County and its municipalities will collect an additional $232,792 per year in sales tax and (as of January 1st) an additional $46,558 for levee repairs.
Our household goal: $3.50 per day, per household—a couple of sodas, a really good cup of coffee, about a gallon of gas. If we can increase that to $50 per week per household, then the total will rise to almost $40 million per year in increased sales (about $64,000 per business).
Many people do not realize that both motor fuel tax and sales tax apply to every purchase of gasoline within Monroe County. $0.19 from every gallon of gas goes directly to the State of Illinois for a variety of government services, including road construction and maintenance, plus another 6.25% for sales tax. At $3.00 per gallon, $.38 of every gallon comes back to Illinois residents. That’s $7.60 for every 20-gallon tank of gas you purchase. If you fill your tank once a week, that’s $395 per year. After January 1st, an additional quarter percent will go to help secure our levee system. For every 100 people that fill their 20-gallon tanks once a week across the Mississippi in Missouri, $40,040 of revenue is lost for our roads and public services. Why should we send that revenue across the river?
