[coredog64]

> But personal car travel is currently heavily subsidized (no, the fuel tax does not cover road costs)

If only there were some other way to collect funds for roads. One idea could be that governments require some kind of annual "license" that they charge you for. Alternatively, since private automobiles involve a large capital purchase, maybe we could levy some kind of fee or tax on the purchase to cover annual road maintenance.

[lkbm]

We could, but as they currently stand, but I've yet to see any analysis suggesting those come close to it covering the difference.

Most things do just look at parking and gas tax, but licensing fees are negligible compared to gas tax. The car sales tax might be a big source to make a difference, though. A few states don't have a sales tax on cars, but most do, and that may outstrip gas tax revenue if people buy frequently enough.