ON THIS penultimate day of 2008, I heard a commentator on Bloomberg discuss, approvingly, the notion of raising the national tax on motor vehicle fuel. In what world do these talking heads live???
The only justification for a tax on fuel would be, to repair the damage done by the vehicles to the pavement. But if that were in fact how the money was being spent, there would be no justification for Congress getting its hands on the money: Congress is authorized to spend money for the common defense and the general welfare, but the repairs would be required in one State or in particular other States. And if it were true that the fuel tax were faithfully allotted to repairing the pavement, than the tax should be levied only on diesel fuel; the gasoline vehicles are so light on their tires that they hardly wear out the surface (witness how well the parkways survive!)
What would benefit the highway system – and there can hardly be a family that does not rely on the highways for food and drink, if not for business and pleasure – would be charges that match demand to supply. Tolls should be varied from hour to hour to prevent highways slowing down to the minimum speed and stalling – or abandoned entirely when traffic is sparse: then we should see the highways running fast, and thus profitably (for the operators!) in the wee hours of the night. License plates should not give access to U.S., State, county and local highways indifferently: there should be special plates for the Interstate System (then we would no longer observe the Interstates running fast in the country, slowly in urban areas.)
If and when the highways were being managed to make a profit, we might see them being managed competitively, instead of in one concerted attempt to waste fuel. There would be no STOP or no-turn-on-red signs: the yellow lights would be visible in all directions, so drivers could speed up their converters before the green appeared; and – importantly! – the Environmental Protection Agency would no longer be allowed to pretend that atmospheric pollution is a national, rather than a State or local, phenomenon.