OK. OK. We know. With oil prices hovering at $100 a barrel, gasoline at $3 a gallon and the economy teetering on the edge of recession, now is not the logical time for a tax hike. But if not now, when?

The Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, not exactly a coven of tax-and-spenders, is so concerned about Utah's funding gap for transportation that it recently came out for increasing the state fuels tax - currently 24.5 cents a gallon - by 2 cents per gallon every two years for 15 years.

The ultraconservative Utah Taxpayers Association last year proposed doubling the Utah fuels tax, though it would have coupled that increase with a corresponding cut in the income tax.

What these two proposals say is that Utah business owners are deeply concerned about the ability of government to keep up with the demand for new roads.

Of the two proposals, we like the chamber's better, partly because it does not include the offsetting cut in the income tax. The Legislature already has cut the income tax, a primary revenue source for Utah's underfunded schools, and we do not believe that education should continue to limp along on starvation wages.

The chamber's proposal also is a gradual one, meaning that the economy would not have to take the hit all at one time.

In fact, considering that double-digit construction inflation is eating up the value of every dollar that goes into road construction, Utah is barely jogging in place. To make progress, there must be new revenues.

The chamber also proposes funneling more of state revenue surpluses into transportation, although that source probably is on the verge of drying up if a recession is indeed underway.

The chamber also says that the state should dedicate 100 percent of the sales tax on automobiles and related items to highway funding. That doesn't increase the state revenue pie, however; it merely takes more money away from other government services and gives it to roads.

Utah's fuels tax hasn't been increased since 1997. It's time.