3 ms·

Just Dutch auction off the limited quantity: road space. Modern technology allows ubiquitous tracking and recognition of vehicles. No reason to subsidize at tha

• leetcrew 8y ago
  I don't think it's wise to encourage even more tracking of people/objects moving around in the real world. it probably wouldn't be that bad if government could track autonomous semis making deliveries to large shopping centers, but I wouldn't want it to have fine-grained data on who goes where and who delivers to their house.
• mrfredward 8y ago
  We already have a system to turn road usage into government revenue. Collection is easy efficient, and wastes zero time for the people paying. It does a good job correlating not only to road use but also pollution produced. In fact it's so easy to pay that many consumers rarely even think about it when they're paying it, yet even anonymous cash payers can't find a way to skirt around it. It's called the gas tax, and it does a good enough job charging people for their negative externalities that everyone seems to hate it.
  • Cogito 8y ago
    This would be true if fuel usage was linearly related to wear and tear on the roads, or road usage. Fuel taxes almost never tax heavy usage vehicles enough, compared to the amount of damage they do to the road. A fuel tax also doesn't solve the problem grandparent post is trying to solve, excess usage of 'high value' roads. If road usage, and road wear and tear, was evenly distributed then a fuel tax would work, but the reality is that is simply a convenient and fairly effective proxy solution. As technology improves a solution similar to grandparent, some form of usage tolling, will become feasible and provide a more effective outcome.