“Crank up the cost to the users that cause the most wear on the highways - heavy trucks. Problem solved.”
Who will pass the increased costs on to their customers, who will pass them on to the consumer. Problem transferred.
In other words, the average automobile driver will pay for what the heavy trucks do anyhow.
The author is living in a libertarian/environmentalist dream world. Highways still need to be maintained and built if economic growth is to continue, as people who visit 3d world nations like Venezuela soon find out. While technology has allowed expanded work-at-home and more efficient use of highways, congestion and deferred maintenance continue to increase. Somebody has to pay the bills, and the fairest and most efficient way is through user fees and congestion charges, which (1)burden those whose use is responsible for the expenditures and thereby (2) give users an incentive to economize on their use.
Who will pass the increased costs on to their customers, who will pass them on to the consumer. Problem transferred.“Crank up the cost to the users that cause the most wear on the highways - heavy trucks. Problem solved.”
Yes truckers will be forced to raise their rates, but that is not the end of the story. The next thing that happens is that the shipper decides that rail is more economical, and the freight gets shipped that way. ‘Course that also means lost trucker jobs, which will already be under threat from automobile autopilot computers . . .