In an odd way, the reluctance of state House members to be seen as supporting a tax hike for transportation has improved chances of passing a tax hike for transportation.

At least for metro Atlanta.

To their credit, leaders in both the House and Senate have gotten serious about meeting the state's transportation funding crisis, with each chamber proposing workable approaches that would put a dent in the problem. The Senate has taken a regional approach, voting overwhelmingly to allow a county or group of counties to propose a special one-penny transportation sales tax to their voters. The House version took that approach statewide, proposing that all Georgians be allowed to vote to tax themselves another penny for transportation.

Either approach requires a constitutional amendment, which in turn requires two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate and then approval by the voters. But only one version of the tax is likely to make it onto the November ballot; given tense relations between the two bodies, a deal was far from certain.

However, House leaders may make that compromise easier by dropping the statewide approach and moving closer to the Senate's concept. Apparently, it's easier to get two-thirds of the House to let regions of Georgia tax themselves for transportation than to get that same two-thirds to approve a statewide version of the tax.

The reason is politics: The statewide version would be easier to denounce as a tax hike, while the regional approach can be described as a local option sales tax, writ large.

While moving closer to the Senate approach, the House version offers some promising refinements. For example, it would give the right to propose a local transportation tax not to counties but to regional development commissions such as the 10-county Atlanta Regional Commission. That would make it easier to generate regional transportation solutions, and would also give regional commissions some much-needed authority.

Also, under the Senate version 10 percent of a locally authorized transportation tax would be diverted into the state treasury. That makes no sense. If metro Atlanta voters approve a tax that is assessed only in metro Atlanta, why should part of the proceeds be siphoned off to parts of the state that are exempt from the tax?

The argument offered is pretty weak. Supposedly, Georgians from outside metro Atlanta deserve to share in the revenue because they often come to spend money here. However, when our fellow Georgians come to Atlanta to shop, go to a Braves game or see a show, they also add to the burden on our roads and infrastructure, and they too should help pay to build it.

Besides, the metro region is already a "donor region," generating significantly more in state tax dollars than is spent here. Setting aside 10 percent of a local tax for state use would compound that inequity, and metro legislators should ensure that their constituents aren't milked in such fashion.

Another provision in the Senate's regional-tax approach reserves 10 percent of the revenues for mass transit projects. That language isn't necessary —- if regions are given control of their own revenues, they can decide for themselves what role transit will play in their future. Furthermore, that provision would unnecessarily tie the hands of regional commissions outside the metro area where communities have little need for mass transit but might want to use that taxing mechanism for their own transportation needs.