General Road and Highway Discussion

[MidTowner]

The gas tax is less than perfect. There’s insufficient political will anywhere to raise them- Ontario is about to celebrate the 25th anniversary since last raising it, on January 1. That’s not a function of a gas tax itself, obviously.

But it’s not entirely fair. Battery electric vehicles (a trivial number now, but growing) pay no gas tax, but are heavy and thus do disproportionate damage to our roads. Drivers of older, less fuel-efficient vehicles pay more per kilometre (which might be desirable for other reasons, but not if you want to use gas taxes to cover road maintenance).

Tolls probably aren’t a lot more difficult to administer now that we have new technologies available, and they don’t necessarily mean slowing cars down so their drivers can throw coins in a basket. In addition to raising revenue, you’re right that they are a congestion management tool.