A Brief Thought
Let’s have a little discussion.
Considering how much time we Oregonians spend on the road, how would you feel about highway taxes? I’d be willing to pay for it, for a few reasons.
At heart, what it would be would be paying for the damage that I cause the roads.
A secondary effect would be overall a lowering of driving, which is what all of our assorted driving taxes are shooting for (parking money, speeding tickets, gas tax, etc.).
It’s better than a sales tax, because a sales tax doesn’t have anything but precedent behind it, and a road tax has a direct correlation to something in the real world. “Driving isn’t a right, it’s a privilege.”
I don’t exactly know how to respond to the argument that it forces the poor off the road other than; WE’VE GOT THE BEST DAMN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM IN THE US, AND IT’S CHEAPER THAN DRIVING TO BOOT.
I like the idea of this, but how do you implement it? For example, semi-trucks cause more damage than motorcycles, and you can’t toll every road, and how can you tax people who don’t live in Oregon?
Toll booths. The same way it’s done in pretty much every single state. Done with toll-booths, it makes a double impact. One, we tax everyone who damages the roads, and in direct proportion to the damage they cause. Bikes are .25 per exit, and semis are $3.00 for every exit plus $1.00 for every trailer they haul.
The second impact is something that’s difficult to do with taxes. A psychological impact on drivers. It’s the same (not to start repeating myself or anything) as the parking tax (but not the gas tax) in that it’s immediately obvious that your actions are costing you money.