Glenn Reynolds:
It’s yet another lesson in the law of unintended consequences — and, as usual, the government wants us to pick up the tab for its poor planning. This time, it’s the Obama administration’s proposal to allow tolls on interstate highways, where such tolls have been banned since the Eisenhower days.
The problem is that government efforts to discourage driving and to encourage fuel conservation have been successful. With people burning less gas, revenues from the gasoline tax are down.
People burning less gas is what the government wanted. But with gas prices at historically high levels (often over four bucks a gallon), and with trust in governmentat historic lows, politicians aren’t too enthusiastic about taking the obvious step, increasing the gas tax. They don’t want to take the heat. Instead, they’re looking to increase revenue in other, less obvious ways.
This has led states such as Oregon and New Jersey to propose taxing people for mileage instead of gas, probably using GPS trackers. That approach increases taxes most on gas-sipping hybrids and electric cars, which use no gas at all. (You know, the cars the government has been busy subsidizing because they use less or no gas.) But the idea of having all our movement tracked by government-mandated GPS units hasn’t played very well with voters, so those schemes have had trouble getting traction.
Tolls are plan B. But they’ll also make the driving experience worse, and less private. If states set up old-fashioned toll booths on the interstate, as a number already have for bridges and tunnels, you’ll have to slow down to pay. (Which, ironically, will waste gas.) Politicians will undoubtedly like it, though, because all those toll booth employees will be government employees who can probably be counted on to re-elect incumbents.
Of course, this is the 21st century, so we’ll let drivers who opt in use radio frequency chips or bar codes to whiz by sensors that withdraw money from your bank account. But that’s not really an improvement because it also means that the government will have a handy computerized record of where you go and when. It might not save time, either, as E-ZPass lanes clog up, too.
Ike pretty much created (or at least modernized) the entire Interstate roadway system.
I don’t know about toll booths everywhere, but I know about the one we USED to have on the Vincent-Thomas Bridge between the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
It was free to go into LB but the toll booths were if you wanted to go into San Pedro.
They cost $0.25 and later were raised to $0.50 to cover upkeep on the bridge.
But the toll booth operators cost more than the entire income from the tolls!
Year after year this was the case.
Finally they got rid of the booths.
Free both ways.
I have read about very expensive tolls elsewhere.
$10.00 one way on some NY bridge.
Almost $10.00 one way in San Fran.
But is is never enough.
These tolls add on to the price of goods that are trucked into these cities.
So, how is that helpful?
Question. What do they do with all of that federal money they save they have for building and/or repairing roads?
Tracking is already being conducted. Get one of those little do-dads from progressive auto insurance.
The eight rules of saul alinksy to a socialist state coming to fruition slowly but surely. (I pray I am incorrect)