[Star Traveler]

You said — “And that’s the problem. The “budget” of a state is simply the itemized listing of allocated tax revenue. Every budget is finite, and therefore every budget must have priorities. My problem is with the state of Oregon’s priorities with their budget money.”

You can check on this, as I can’t remember for sure, right now — but I’m fairly sure that, by law, the gas tax monies are strictly allocated to only road use items (and some items associated with that) and cannot be used on any other budget item in the state.

That would mean that all the money that comes from the gas tax would have to be used strictly for fixing those roads and nothing else (it’s legislatively required, according to my memory...).

[Flycatcher]

You can check on this, as I can’t remember for sure, right now — but I’m fairly sure...

Well, as long as you're fairly sure...

[Thumper1960]

Never trust government to do what they claim they will do. Monies extorted from the tobacco companies were supposed to go towards smoking cessation programs and to "fight" tobacco related problems and issues. Government lied. Government always lies. It is in government's make up, it's "DNA" to lie, cheat, swindle and deceive. Never, ever look at any government proposal that seeks to deprive anyone of their monies and pronounce it "logical or sensible".