Madison - Gov. Jim Doyle is signaling a willingness to raise the cigarette tax, a year after he and legislators raised the tax by $1 a pack.

The Democratic governor did not explicitly endorse raising the tax in a recent interview, but he noted he originally fought for raising the tax by $1.25.

“I would simply point out that I’ve supported going to a higher level in the past,” he said.

The cigarette tax rose to $1.77 a year ago today.

Doyle - who spent Tuesday doing one-on-one interviews with reporters at the governor’s mansion in Maple Bluff - told the Wisconsin State Journal he wants to resume having the gas tax automatically increase every year.

“The simple fact is that where Wisconsin went, where Republicans took us, is unsustainable for transportation (infrastructure), where you say, that’s basically it on the gas tax, regardless of what the costs are and what the needs are,” Doyle told the State Journal.

That’s a departure from what he said two years ago, when he was running for re-election. Then, Doyle promised not to raise the gas tax during a second term, which runs through 2010.

Republicans said they opposed raising either tax.

“They’re both horrible ideas, especially with where the economy sits today,” said Rep. Scott Newcomer (R-Hartland).

Sen. Mike Ellis (R-Neenah) said allowing the gas tax to go up annually without a vote would be “gutless” and a “political cop-out.”

For 20 years, the state gas tax automatically increased an inflationary amount every April 1. But in 2005, Republicans who controlled the Legislature and Doyle approved ending that practice, despite initial resistance to the idea.

The gas tax - now at 32.9 cents per gallon - increased for the last time in April 2006. Wisconsin’s gas tax is one of the highest in the country, but its annual registration fee of $75 per vehicle is on the low end.

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Weston) and Assembly Speaker-elect Mike Sheridan (D-Janesville) voted against ending the automatic increases.

Decker spokeswoman Carrie Lynch said Decker would support resuming the automatic gas tax if there were bipartisan support for it and the money were guaranteed to go toward transportation. Critics have blasted Doyle because he has diverted more than $1 billion from the transportation fund since 2003 to pay for schools.

Sheridan spokeswoman Rebekah Sweeney said Sheridan wanted to discuss the gas tax with Assembly Democrats before deciding how to proceed.

Doyle spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner said Doyle still supports a separate plan to tax oil companies to help pay for roads. His plan would include a provision that oil companies not pass the tax on to consumers, but opponents argue there would be no legal way to do that.

Doyle and Democrats who will run the Legislature starting Monday face a record $5.4 billion shortfall through mid-2011. They have said they do not want to raise any general taxes, but have not ruled out doing so.

Discouraging smokers

Doyle discussed the cigarette tax not as a way to shore up the state’s finances, but as a means to curb smoking.

When Doyle lobbied for a $1.25 per-pack increase in the cigarette tax, he said any tax increase had to be big enough to shock smokers into quitting.

But he said a smaller state cigarette tax increase could be bundled with a likely increase to the federal cigarette tax. Democrats who control Congress are expected to debate raising the federal tax - now at 39 cents per pack - in the upcoming session.

Smoker Deloris Plummer of Madison said she opposed the idea of raising the tax.

“I think it’s up to the individual if they want to smoke or not. It’s just a point where government sticks their nose in a lot of places they shouldn’t be,” said Plummer, 67.

Increasing tobacco taxes creates incentives for people to avoid taxes by buying cigarettes over the Internet, said Bill Phelps, a spokesman for Altria Group, the parent company of Philip Morris USA.

“They put an unfair burden on people who smoke because cigarettes are already heavily taxed,” he said.

Anti-smoking advocates said they would welcome a cigarette tax increase but their top priority is a state ban on smoking in public places - a goal Doyle shares.