From a USA Today editorial: "With the next election two years off and more than 60 departing lawmakers not having to face voters again, this is the perfect time to increase the tax from the current 18.4-cents-a-gallon to an inflation-adjusted 30.3 cents. And with gas prices plummeting, chances are motorists would barely notice."
If this tax increase is as great a policy idea as the USA Today editorial writers apparently think it is, then what's the need to hide it from the voters and hope they don't notice, or to rely on lawmakers who don't "have to face voters again" to get it passed? It reminds me of MIT economist Jonathan Gruber and his boasts about the lack of transparency in getting ObamaCare passed in the face of "the stupidity of the American voter." It's a kind of elitist contempt for democracy.