Drayton McLane Jr. of Temple, owner of the Houston Astros, left Carole Keeton Strayhorn's team without a fuss this summer after more than 10 years as a supporter.

But he's got a lingering ITch.

McLane said he quit as Strayhorn's campaign chairman in deference to her immediate foe, Gov. Rick Perry. Strayhorn's camp says McLane vamoosed so she can name several chairs.

But now McLane remains unsure of whom to back for governor. He wants to sound out the two Republicans, testing for a willingness to look into Texas creating a personal income tax, now employed in 41 states.

McLane, mindful of legislators failing to retool business taxes, said: "We need to go back and see what is the better way to tax. And because we don't have an income tax, we have had to disproportionately tax other areas," notably through property, sales and corporate franchise taxes.

"We need to look at all the alternatives," McLane said. "It's by far the most important issue. "

Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, has long said a Texas IT would raise billions to slash school property taxes, raise teacher salaries and expand preschool offerings to a student population increasingly poor and Hispanic.

Shapleigh said of McLane: "What I like is, he's willing to put his support on the line. We need an honest, thorough debate."

Shapleigh offers a road show on taxes, which reminded me why candidates have struggled with the tax issue since Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock backed off in 1991, only to usher in the constitutional provision saying that voters have final say.

Under one version, taxing at 3.5 percent to 6.45 percent of net personal income, only Texans earning more than $66,000 a year would pay more, with property taxes dropping by 90 percent. State sales taxes would remain steady.

Sweet, Shapleigh says, since winners amount to eight in 10 taxpayers.

Yet politically, it's dicey, partly because Texans likely to pay more are the same wealthy folks who largely fund and guide most campaigns.

Ruling conservatives see the absence of a Texas income tax as heroic. And few agree that Texas needs to spend much more on education, health care or other services.

Harley Duncan of the Washington-based Federation of Tax Administrators said states have adopted the income tax of late only after a demonstrated need for more money plus leadership that galvanizes the public, giving legislators cover.

The latest to leap: Connecticut, 14 years (and two Texas governors) ago.

The Texas Supreme Court could fuel funding pressure when it rules on whether it's legal to depend largely on property taxes to fund schools. Then again, legislators might legalize slot machines at racetracks before attempting the income tax mambo.

Democratic Rep. Eddie Rodriguez of Austin, another income tax advocate, said GOP leaders don't think the tax is "right yet. It will get right. Every other alternative is bad."

McLane, uncommitted for governor, stands by.

wgselby@statesman.com; 445-3644