Time For Illinois To Up The Gas Tax?

Few politicians are heroes when it comes to taking a hard vote to raise taxes. Courage is particularly short now, with the economy staggering and many voters really suffering.

That said, the time is right in Illinois to at least seriously consider one tax hike: the tax on gasoline. Unless the state soon takes advantage of a surprisingly propitious moment of time, it stands to lose out on billions of dollars of badly needed infrastructure work that President-elect Barack Obama is likely to begin offering the states almost literally the day he's sworn into office next month.

Here's where I'm coming from:

Though the Illinois Department of Transportation is not a model of good order and priority-setting, almost every transit pro I know keeps a long and growing list of road, public transit and school projects that the state needs but can't afford.

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