[Ben Ficklin]

Raising the gasoline tax? It won't happen.

[Paleo Conservative]

Raising the gasoline tax? It won't happen.

Oh that's a great idea, raising gasoline taxes. Then the feds will just spend it on pork barrel projects like the big dig in Boston. It won't get back to the communities where the taxes are collected.

[BobL]

"Raising the gasoline tax? It won't happen."

It may not. But it should be an option - and it should be tried. When I lived in California in the 1980s we voted to raise the gasoline tax by 9 cents per gallon (over 5 years), that's close to 20 cents in today's dollars (a bit less, probably - but a huge amount of new money for TXDOT).

I just can't take dismissing that option out of hand, as was done by Perry. Now if Perry loses, and, say Kay becomes our next governor, there's a good chance that she might level with the voters and tell them why an increase in the gas tax is a good idea, and make it clear that it is directed at highways. And the fact that Perry would have been defeated in the Primary, mainly because of his TTC scheme, would give her a lot of clout.

What I can't take from Perry is that he closed out the option without even trying.