Political grandstanding on the baseless claim that we shouldn’t raise new taxes to fill our deep budget hole is pandering at its worst.
State Treasurer John Kennedy, the perennial failed senate candidate, proclaimed after Gov. John Bel Edward’s televised address that we “don’t have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem.” 
He’s lying. 
The details and explanations of our problems are numerous, so I won’t waste time rehashing them. Just look at any article about Louisiana’s budget from the last eight years. I’d rather delve into a blaring solution and opportunity within our grasp right now.
Louisiana has a 20-cent-per-gallon tax charged at the pump. This tax is already factored into the price of gas, and consumers don’t notice it. However, they do notice its effects.
The Louisiana Good Roads and Transportation Association, a nonprofit transportation advocacy group, estimates this tax produces as much as $450 million every year. This tax is the primary financing stream through which we fund our roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects.
The state hasn’t raised the tax in 25 years, and this by itself is a problem.  It’s just a simple fact that 20 cents doesn’t buy what it used to.
Louisianians’ favorite pastime besides arguing over   whether to suck the head of crawfish (Of course you do), is complaining about potholes.
Part of the reason we have such disastrous roads is the fact we don’t have the proper funding to maintain them. Our state’s population has also grown, and more people live here today than 20 years ago. The influx of people has increased the stress our roads are under, causing deeper cracks and more frequent fissures to arise.
We should raise our tax one measly dime.
If this is done we increase revenue by at least $120 million to spend on improving our  infrastructure, and that will not be our only gain.
Businesses looking to relocate here take into account how their workers will fare. Part of that calculation is ensuring they have safe, easy access to both their jobs and the various attractions wherever they move.
The president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, or LABI, said in the run up to the governor’s race “repairing transportation infrastructure is an urgent need to prepare for the growth Louisiana is experiencing in energy, manufacturing, exports and new markets.”
Political soothsayers saw that statement as a signal to the candidates that the   business group, arguably the most influential lobbying group in the state, would not openly oppose proposals for increasing the gas tax. 
No gubernatorial candidates openly endorsed raising it then, but they did make clear that they would allow local entities to enact their transportation-related taxes.
If a statewide public vote to enact this tax increase will imperil our elected officials chances of getting reelected and the greater good for our state is outweighed by their own personal politics, then so be it.
However, please do not hold back local governments from doing what is necessary and important for their constituents. After all, isn’t this a small government and local control dream scenario … or is that just a political talking point used to keep politicians from actually doing their jobs?
Garrett Hines is a 21-year-old political science major from Monroe, Louisiana.