There is a time and a season for most everything, including raising the federal gasoline tax, but this is neither the time nor the season to do that. Not during an economic recession that shows no sign of bottoming out. Not when millions of people are out of work and businesses large and small are hammering plywood over their doors and windows.

It may sound like we're merely belaboring the obvious. But a federal commission created by Congress apparently doesn't buy the common wisdom that you do -not raise taxes in a recession. The National Commission on Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing is suggesting that gasoline and diesel fuel taxes be raised by roughly 50 percent to offset declining revenue for the federal fund that finances the building and repairing of highways, bridges and public transit.

The commission's report, due later this month, will recommend that Congress raise the gas tax by 10 cents a gallon (from 18.4 cents) and the diesel tax by 12 to 15 cents a gallon from its current 24.4 cents. The panel also wants to tie fuel tax rates to inflation, and urge the states to raise their own fuel taxes, expand their numbers of toll roads and to charge more for rush-hour driving.

To be fair, Congress told the commission to find ways to make up for Americans' changing driving habits. Motorists are buying less fuel because they are driving less and purchasing more fuel-efficient vehicles, including hybrids. A federal study a year ago estimated that the gap between highway fund revenues and needed investment in roads and transit systems was about $105 billion in 2007 and going up.

In times past we have favored bumping up the federal fuel tax, and adding 15 cents to Utah's fuel tax of 24.5 cents per gallon in order to pay for pressing transportation needs and to encourage conservation. With a return to prosperity, we will do so again. But not now, not in the midst of an economic calamity.

Rather, we believe that as president, Barack Obama should borrow the money to finance his jobs-generating public works projects, including highways and bridges. Congress can then raise the fuel tax when the crisis has passed.

In the same vein, we like Gov. Jon Huntsman's idea of bonding for state transportation projects as an alternative to shrinking other critical programs to pay for roads.