Hold on to your wallets

Just when you thought you got by with just an increase in the sales tax, Gov. Deval Patrick drops this one on us:

“We haven’t done that yet. We haven’t finished that work yet,’’ Patrick said, when asked if he would keep pushing for a gas tax. “And whether that’s the gas tax or something else, we’re going to have to face those issues, I think sooner rather than later.’’

Patrick also called the budget "austere" and "painful." But in comparison to the FY 2009 budget, this is $1 billion less. That's certainly a lot of money but to go from $28 billion to $27 billion doesn't really seem like a lot proportionally speaking.