The Republican super-majorities in the Utah House and Senate apparently can't get enough of Gov. Jon Huntsman's dotty duel-income tax plan, which will throw money at people who already have plenty and benefit the rest of us to the tune of one annual tank of gas.

Gas that more people could buy less of if the other idea, which Huntsman also favors, would fly. But that, allowing Salt Lake County to levy a quarter-cent sales tax to accelerate much-needed expansions of the TRAX light rail system, may be dead for now because some lawmakers still have questions about it.

To swallow the income tax plan and strain on the TRAX initiative suggests that some on Capitol Hill are less interested in basic government - education and transportation infrastructure that helps people make their own way - than in base politics - fealty to those who have already made it.

The Salt Lake County Council has already placed a $890 million property tax-funded bond issue for TRAX on the November ballot. Polls predict voter approval.

But the Utah Foundation deduces that the sales-tax option would raise more money sooner, so more could go to construction and less to interest payments, avoiding an increase in the much-loathed property tax.

Big assumptions for the Legislature to buy so quickly? Perhaps.

But it's downright terra firma compared to the imagined benefits tied to the proposed flat-tax plan.

The confidence that a 5.4 percent flat-rate option, compared to the current 7 percent with deductions, would attract enough businesses to Utah to not only make up for the resulting $70 million cut in the tax that funds education, but also keep up with soaring school populations, is a very slender reed.

With Wyoming and Nevada boasting zero income tax, and many lower-taxed states not facing Utah-style population growth, Utah has neither the hope that lower taxes will someday build our tax base nor the luxury of doing without the money while we wait.

The income-tax plan may be a done deal. If the TRAX plan doesn't come along, we'll know our state is completely off the rails.