With the exception of a couple of toll roads here and there and no doubt some complexity in some state's legilation, we absolutely do not fund roads with use fe

With the exception of a couple of toll roads here and there and no doubt some complexity in some state's legilation, we absolutely do not fund roads with use fees. These are all general fund taxes, not earmarked in any meaningful way. And in any case the revenue they generate doesn't come even remotely close to the cost of maintaining the ground transportation network. This point just doesn't hold, sorry. I mean, fine. Maybe the gas tax is unfair and we should replace it with something more neutral. Or maybe the gas tax should be viewed as a "sin tax" the way taxes on alcohol and cigarettes and tanning are. Maybe it should be higher, if that's the case. But whatever side you decide to come down on, wanting a steady source of revenue for road maintenance just isn't related. In this case, the Texas legislature clearly wants to stick it to the dirty fucking hippies. Their roads are fine and they know it. (That said, if Texas were to institute a new tax on electrical generation to better regulate its disastrous distribution network, maybe there would be an argument...)