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"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.

Perry would have nothing to do with raising the gas tax, except to veto it. The legislature will not pass a 20 cent increase.

Lets go thru this again. 20 cents won't be adequate.

MPG will continue to rise, diminishing the number of gallons to tax. The special interests in Austin will bleed the revenues generated.

Why do you consider a gas tax good but tolls bad? Both get us to the point of building needed roads, but with very different outcomes:

-- Tolls get roads built faster.

-- Tolls are spent 100% on roads. A good part of the gas tax goes to fund public education and DPS. So, penny for penny, tolls are more efficient than a gas tax.

-- Finally, I only pay a toll if I choose to take the road. If I don't want to pay the toll, I don't have to take the road, since there is a free alternative. Also, tolls stay local, whereas gas tax money can and would probably be spent on road projects I'll never drive on.

Seems to me tolls are the preferable conservative option.