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Road taxes should be directly proportional to how much wear a vehicle causes to the road. That ranges to effectively zero for bikes and pedestrians to dozens of

Road taxes should be directly proportional to how much wear a vehicle causes to the road. That ranges to effectively zero for bikes and pedestrians to dozens of times as much as a car for eighteen-wheelers.

cityofdelusion 6y ago
Indeed, road damage is a 4th power function off the load of a vehicle. I feel this would be fairly easy to implement at registration (at least here in the states, weight is part of the registration application).
blisterpeanuts 6y ago
This sounds fair except that trucks perform an essential service. Heavy taxation of the trucking industry just raises the price of food and other necessities.
- horsawlarway 6y ago
  Sure, but you're still paying the same tax, its just buried under a different line item. And at least for non-food goods, I tend to think usage taxes are appropriate, since consumption (usage) tends to go up as income goes up. I'm particularly interested to see where we go as more and more shopping moves to home delivery. In theory, you save wear because each individual isn't driving to the store and back, but you're also increasing the number of large/heavy vehicles. And heavy vehicles account for basically all road damage.
- ggreer 6y ago
  Shipping is important but current trucks aren’t the only way to transport goods. Taxing vehicles based on their road wear would incentivize the industry to move to smaller trucks that don’t cause as much damage to roads.
  - blisterpeanuts 6y ago
    But you'd need more trucks to move equivalent goods; seems like a wash to me.
    - ggreer 6y ago
      The point is to tax externalities so that incentives are aligned. In this case you'd get much less road wear for the same cargo delivered.
peapicker 6y ago
Further, large trucks don’t travel on many roads, which are useful roads to people throughout suburban and rural areas. These roads need maintenance too, even if the wear is more from weather. As a car owner, one has to participate in maintenance of the system somehow.
AdrianB1 6y ago
If the taxes are going in a road maintenance fund, yes. In many countries road taxes are just taxes, in my country they are used to fund the general budget and over 50% of the budget is going to various forms of benefits.

cityofdelusion 6y ago

Indeed, road damage is a 4th power function off the load of a vehicle. I feel this would be fairly easy to implement at registration (at least here in the states, weight is part of the registration application).

blisterpeanuts 6y ago

This sounds fair except that trucks perform an essential service. Heavy taxation of the trucking industry just raises the price of food and other necessities.

horsawlarway 6y ago
Sure, but you're still paying the same tax, its just buried under a different line item. And at least for non-food goods, I tend to think usage taxes are appropriate, since consumption (usage) tends to go up as income goes up. I'm particularly interested to see where we go as more and more shopping moves to home delivery. In theory, you save wear because each individual isn't driving to the store and back, but you're also increasing the number of large/heavy vehicles. And heavy vehicles account for basically all road damage.
ggreer 6y ago
Shipping is important but current trucks aren’t the only way to transport goods. Taxing vehicles based on their road wear would incentivize the industry to move to smaller trucks that don’t cause as much damage to roads.
- blisterpeanuts 6y ago
  But you'd need more trucks to move equivalent goods; seems like a wash to me.
  - ggreer 6y ago
    The point is to tax externalities so that incentives are aligned. In this case you'd get much less road wear for the same cargo delivered.

peapicker 6y ago

Further, large trucks don’t travel on many roads, which are useful roads to people throughout suburban and rural areas. These roads need maintenance too, even if the wear is more from weather. As a car owner, one has to participate in maintenance of the system somehow.

AdrianB1 6y ago

If the taxes are going in a road maintenance fund, yes. In many countries road taxes are just taxes, in my country they are used to fund the general budget and over 50% of the budget is going to various forms of benefits.