Poll: raise taxes to protect programs, just not gas taxes

According to a Star Tribune/Minnesota Poll, Minnesotans think that we should balance the budget using a combination of spending cuts and tax increases. However, a majority do not want to increase gas taxes.

The fact that people want a balanced approach to the budget is not surprising. People have consistently supported this approach over the past few years. However, I am a bit surprised at the gas tax findings. I would like to ask a follow up question to these people: "How would you pay for transportation and transit needs?" One person cited in the story says that he would support tolls, which makes no sense to me: no gas tax but yes on tolls? I'm not saying tolls don't have their place, but we aren't going to fix this problem with tolls.

Transportation and transit funding is reaching a critical state. If we don't find money soon, there are going to be serious economic repercussions.