"Nobody thinks it would be efficient to privatize the federal highway system and turn everything into a toll road." Different definitions of "efficiency" notwi

"Nobody thinks it would be efficient to privatize the federal highway system and turn everything into a toll road." Different definitions of "efficiency" notwithstanding ... A privatized road doesn't have to be paid for by toll, that's merely how we mostly do it. We could easily contract maintenance and operation of a road to a company, and that company is paid by the government from tax funds. Kadin in another reply to your comment describes the trucks that use the road "for free," paid for by all the other tax paying saps. In reality the receivers of the trucker's goods also benefit from that truck on the road (and the truck company and its employees pay into the same tax funnel as the receiving citizens). Imagine a village not connected to the main highway. Some of the villagers walk out early one morning to the highway, and flag down a truck full of stuff. "Mr. Trucker, we sure would like to buy some of your stuff, if you would only drive your truck to our Small Mart." Mr Trucker replies "I surely can't drive my truck over your unimproved land. I'll be back next year; if you have a proper road, I'll drive my truck over and you can buy some stuff." The village people delay construction on their YMCA and redirect their efforts to building a beautiful road. The next year they flag down the trucker and say "Mr. Trucker, we now have a road that goes directly to Small Mart. Just $10 to drive your truck over it." Mr Trucker says "I don't see why I should pay $10. I'm not going to do it, I'll just drive down the highway and find another village." The village people look at each other, admit that they could really use some more stuff in Small Mart, and agree to let the trucker drive "for free." While waiting for his truck to be unloaded, Mr. Trucker buys a big soda and a burger, $2.99 plus tax and thus helps pay for the road a little bit at a time. The trucker is happy, and so are the village people.