Ed Wallace: Texas Should Raise Its Gas Tax

Our fair state faces a huge impending budget shortfall. On top of that, TxDot will soon be out of money. But we’re still growing. So the question is, how to build the roads and rail needed to keep from strangling ourselves?

Dallas Republican state senator John Carona has an idea: raise the gas tax 10¢.  When asked about it, Rick Perry demurred, but said if the Legislature voted it, he’d have to go with it. That left an opening for KBH to attack him (proving once again that even the slightest hint of fiscal responsibility wins no friends in a GOP primary). 

KLIF talk-show host and BusinessWeek columnist Ed Wallace thinks they are all a bunch of pantywaists. On Saturday’s show, he argued strongly that Texas ought to raise gas prices 20¢. With the way gas prices have been fluctuating the last two years, basically nobody would notice. But the hike would bring in $2 billion a year — more than enough to cover the state’s transporation shortfall, not mention CHIPs, education, and the unemployment fund. In his Monday Star-Telegram column (the man is a multi-media machine), Wallace argued that a national gas tax beats the daylights out of cap-and-trade, which will end up as another bonanza for lobbyists and Wall Street.

A guide to state gas taxes is here.