12-16-2016, 11:48 AM
Gas taxes and road tolls are different things for different purposes.
Gas taxes are nominally supposed to pay for road maintenance, but every year, the tax stays the same while road maintenance costs increase due to inflation.
https://mowatcentre.ca/the-last-time-you...victories/
And so there is a funding shortfall.
On the one hand, the solution is to start raising the gas tax again. But, as people in this thread are pointing out how the advent of plug-in cars means increasingly, people will be effectively dodging paying gas tax, and by extension, road maintenance. Sure, it's a commendable idea to think of the gas tax as a carbon tax instead of an infrastructure tax, but ultimately, that's not a solution long term. Should those who can afford electric vehicles be permanently exempt from paying for roads? And what happens when mass adoption begins and gas tax revenue crumbles?
Meanwhile, in many places (i.e. Toronto) congestion has hit critical levels, and it is literally impossible to expand the roads any further. Road tolls are an excellent, targeted, way of combating congestion right where it occurs. They have the side benefit of paying for the roads that they are on.
Should Waterloo Region toll the expressway? Maybe not yet, but it should at least be considered before any major expansion.
Should Toronto toll the Gardiner? Absolutely.
Gas taxes are nominally supposed to pay for road maintenance, but every year, the tax stays the same while road maintenance costs increase due to inflation.
https://mowatcentre.ca/the-last-time-you...victories/
And so there is a funding shortfall.
On the one hand, the solution is to start raising the gas tax again. But, as people in this thread are pointing out how the advent of plug-in cars means increasingly, people will be effectively dodging paying gas tax, and by extension, road maintenance. Sure, it's a commendable idea to think of the gas tax as a carbon tax instead of an infrastructure tax, but ultimately, that's not a solution long term. Should those who can afford electric vehicles be permanently exempt from paying for roads? And what happens when mass adoption begins and gas tax revenue crumbles?
Meanwhile, in many places (i.e. Toronto) congestion has hit critical levels, and it is literally impossible to expand the roads any further. Road tolls are an excellent, targeted, way of combating congestion right where it occurs. They have the side benefit of paying for the roads that they are on.
Should Waterloo Region toll the expressway? Maybe not yet, but it should at least be considered before any major expansion.
Should Toronto toll the Gardiner? Absolutely.