There is time to look again at road funding

  Although supporters of a proposition to tax Arizonans for state transportation needs are unhappy it will not be allowed on the November ballot, it is actually a good thing.

  The measure - put forward with the support of Arizona officials and state business leaders - would have increased the state sales tax by 1 cent, bringing it to 6.6 cents of every dollar. The increase would have lasted for 30 years, with an estimated return of more than $40 billion in new tax revenue for the state.

  The additional tax money from Proposition 203 was intended for new road construction and other transportation needs, including mass transit.

  The measure hit a pothole when a check of the 260,000 names on the petitions for the proposition found many invalid, leaving the measure about 15,000 voter signatures sort of the number required to place it on the ballot.

  Backers sued to get the names restored, but the courts said they waited too long. The time-frame to challenge the count had passed, meaning the measure could not be put to voters.

  The chairman of the effort to pass the tax predicted "impending doom" for Arizona transportation needs, saying the state would fall $160 billion short of meeting its transportation needs by the year 2040 due to the rapid growth in the state.

  Come on, impending doom? That is obviously an exaggeration given the long period we are talking about here. There is ample time to re-evaluate this issue and get it right without immediately slapping on a 30-year sales tax hike.

  In fact, the ability to re-evaluate how to fund the state's transportation needs is a beneficial aspect of the measure's failure this  year.

  We doubt many would argue the state is growing and it will need to deal with the transportation issue, especially improvement and expansion of roadways. But a huge new taxation program should be the last resort.

   First, we need to look at other state spending and eliminate what is nonessential or that is of lower priority than transportation.

 Once that is done, we should look at a balanced funding approach that does not place all the emphasis on the sales tax. For example, it may be time to look at a higher tax on gasoline since users of roadways would directly benefit from the improvements and should therefore help pay for them.