Which Transportation Tax/Fee Will Walker Raise?

Though he and his allies are plunging ahead with major highway expansion - - The Zoo Interchange, I-94 at Story Hill, I-94 south, I-794 south, I-39/90 south, etc. - - Walker has dismissed toll lanes or an increase in the gas tax to fill in his highway spending potholes.

So that leaves a spike in the vehicle registration or licensing fee, or perhaps some kind of transponder-metered driving-per-mile tax.

I suppose he could propose an add-on to the sales tax just for roads, but that would be blatantly-regressive - - though his buddy Bobby Jindal in Louisiana wants to swap out the entire state income tax for more sales taxes. I'll bet that falls flat, but for the moment Jindal vaults over Walker in the 2016 GOP/Tea Party sweepstakes.

Walker could take another shot at de-funding transit and re-programming those funds into road-building, as he unsuccessfully tried to do in his first budget, leaving bus systems to wither and users to pay more per-ride, walk or snow-shoe to their jobs, doctor appointments, day cares, classes, sporting events.

Since transit systems are staples of city living, and urban voters were his opponents in his last two elections (not to mention in the Romney-Ryan debacle, too), it wouldn't surprise me if Walker's transportation budget - - through new revenues or program-dollar transfers - - hammers cities at the expense of his smaller-town, more rural constituencies.