What can a lame duck do when his term is nearing an end? Go on tour. Gov. Rendell is making a sweep of the state to drum up support for an increase in the state's gasoline tax and motor licensing fees to fill in a $472 million hole in the state's special fund for highways and mass transit (called the Motor Vehicle Fund). Rendell was in Pittsburgh Saturday (Aug. 7) to bang the drum. He's want to call the legislature back from vacation and into a special session Aug. 23 to wrestle with the issue. In reality, no one expect the legislature to act until after the November election. Taxes -- even talk about raising taxes -- is strictly verboten before the election.
Afterwards, though, look for an increase in the gas tax -- now at 32.3 cents a gallon -- and unchanged since 1997. Back then, the price of a gallon of gas was $1.40. Today, it is around $2.75 per gallon.