RALEIGH -- Transportation must be funded one way or another and a lot of it is done through those pesky gas taxes. A recent post by the Tax Foundation puts North Carolina as number 9 on the list of highest gas tax rates and California as number 1

An economist with the Tax Foundation, Lyman Stone says some states use tolls more than gas taxes.

"I don't know that gas taxes or tolls - that one is necessarily better than the other. Generally states need to make a choice about what's best in their circumstance. Do they have roads that can be effectively tolled?"

Stone says gas taxes can be a valuable tool for increasing revenues for road spending. He says some states instead fund transportation from other sources like income and sales tax.