bring cost and price into alignment (e.g. carbon tax, plus roadbuilding and maintenance funded 100% by gas taxes)
Gas taxes seem like such an inefficient way to achieve that goal -- I should think that privately owned roads, charging by mile driven on the road-owner's property, would be a more direct form of funding roadbuilding and maintenance.
As for the carbon externalities, I'm frankly suspicious of explicitly charging for them -- anything that explicitly reduces life expectancy in an actuarially detectable amount would nigh-automatically be taken care of, economically speaking, through life insurance rates, and if it doesn't reduce life expectancy, why should we care, one way or another?
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there be method in't
Date: 2007-05-01 12:55 am (UTC)Gas taxes seem like such an inefficient way to achieve that goal -- I should think that privately owned roads, charging by mile driven on the road-owner's property, would be a more direct form of funding roadbuilding and maintenance.
As for the carbon externalities, I'm frankly suspicious of explicitly charging for them -- anything that explicitly reduces life expectancy in an actuarially detectable amount would nigh-automatically be taken care of, economically speaking, through life insurance rates, and if it doesn't reduce life expectancy, why should we care, one way or another?