Angela, who smokes, will be damned if the Commonwealth gets another pound of flesh out of her:

... Thank God my car is fuel-efficient because I can see a bi-weekly trip to New Hampshire in my future. Ah, New Hampshire ... our friendly neighbor to the north. I can almost see the delight on the faces of the Seabrook cigarette retailers now.

Right before the opening pitch. Of course, they could steal a page from Mitt Romney and call it a fee.

Speaking of taxes, Sean Roche makes the case for increasing the state gasoline tax from 21 cents a gallon - where it's been since 1991 - to 40 cents a gallon:

... The current gas tax pulls in $600 million per year. Raising it to 40 cents would reap an additional $629 million per year (at $34 million in revenue per cent of gas tax). Think that wouldn't help ease the difficulties we're having paying to maintain our transportation infrastructure?

This isn't just a mathematical game to bolster the argument for a higher gas tax. The cost of maintaining our transportation infrastructure is closely tied to the cost of gas. Revenue from the gas tax ought to rise proportionally with the price of gas. ...