I am from North Carolina and I don't necessarily oppose the gas tax (or an increase). I really think of the gas tax as a user fee. Those who drive more, pay more.
What I do strongly oppose is for the gas tax to be used for things other than roads, like taking a portion of the gas tax and using it for mass transit.
The gas tax should be used to build and maintain roads ONLY.
Well, I'm also a resident of North Carolina and I don't know if they spend 1 cent of that 29 on roads. These roads will beat up any nice car -- so I gave up, parked the Porsche and drive a leased PT Cruiser now. I'll turn it in with "normal wear and tear" which will be substantial in NC.
I'll second that thought. It seems only fair that those using the roads should be those paying for the roads, and a gas tax does a good job of apportioning the cost. The heavier your vehicle, the more damage you do to the roads, but it also tends to use more gas, so you pay more to repair the roads. Thats about as fair as you get. But raising gas taxes to pay for pork should be banned.... The only other purpose I would support raising gas taxes for is to promote conservation to reduce dependency on foreign oil. But only in the case the money was returned to taxpayers (divide it equally, and what you've done is provide a higher incentive to switch to fuel efficient vehicles)...
That said, I wish we had mass transit here like other countries have. In Germany I could catch a fast, clean, quiet train and commute a further distance than I do in the states in less time and at a price lower than what I pay in gas here. And I never had to wait more than a few minutes for it to show up. Much nicer than bumper-to-bumper traffic....
"What I do strongly oppose is for the gas tax to be used for things other than roads, like taking a portion of the gas tax and using it for mass transit.
The gas tax should be used to build and maintain roads ONLY."
Using a portion of the gas tax to build mass transit helps to maintain existing roads; give it some thought.