LYNN – State Sen. Thomas M. McGee said a $500 million plan for improving transportation across Massachusetts includes spending aimed at avoiding mass transit fare hikes and route cuts.”This deals with the ongoing problems of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority,” McGee said.The spending plan announced on Tuesday combines tax increases and changes in state spending policy to $500 million a year to focus on transportation spending priorities, including the MBTA’s annual budget shortfalls.The proposed plan calls for a dollar-per-pack increase in the cigarette excise tax and 3-cent increase in the 21-cent state gasoline tax.McGee says the plan ultimately helps shift tax dollars to transportation spending by moving money spent on state workers’ salaries from capital project budgets to state operating budgets. He said the state spends 76 cents for every dollar it borrows to pay for building projects and other capital expenses.”It’s like paying salaries on a credit card. Under this plan, that will be eliminated in three years,” McGee said.State Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Robert DeLeo offered the transportation plan Tuesday as an alternative to a proposal by Gov. Deval Patrick to spend $1.9 billion on transportation and education with money raised, in part, by boosting the state income tax to 6.25 percent.DeLeo, in a statement, said the Senate and House plan provides “adequate funding” for transportation while “not overburdening families.”MBTA officials last month warned they needed to raise bus and train fares or roll out combined fare hikes and route cuts to bridge a $117 million budget gap. McGee said the $500 million transportation spending plan, beginning with a shift in salaries from capital to operating budgets, starts to address the mass transit agency’s problems.”We’ve made progress in identifying the need for revenue,” he said.Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].