A Bump In The Gasoline Tax -- Deadly, In Any Guise

Not as high-handed as Bloomberg, but our legislature wants to up our gas tax too - part of a series of new taxes because we don't have nearly enough money for all the transportation problems that need solving. (You guys talked about commutes before; my wife has a 45-minute commute to cover less than 18 miles.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/19/AR2008061902104.html

It seems to be a pretty poor time to be discussing all of this. Yeah, our traffic blows; that's just how it is. But to think about implementing taxes that will most assuredly take effect ASAP in order to fund projects that won't provide relief until they're complete - months and years down the road. It's worth waiting to see how the economy improves first, I think; our traffic won't stop sucking overnight.

If they really wanted to push us away from our cars, they'd find a way to get a dedicated source of funding to Metro (our mass transit agency), which has never had one. I'd be OK with a regional tax increase for that purpose (assuming Metro would find a good way to use the money, which is no guarantee).

Off-topic a bit, sorry Ben.