Saturday 2 December 2006

Abolishing car tax

During the week, the government announced a reform of the road system. Instead of paying car tax, road users would have to pay tolls on all roads.

OK, yes, taxation is theft. The less amount of taxation, the better. But I don't really approve of this idea. The road infrastructure would still be maintained by the state, and would still be funded by general taxation. There are no hypothecated taxes in the UK, at present.

What's really needed is a privatisation of the road system. Let private organisations own and maintain the roads. Big roads like the M1 and M6 can be owned by private companies. Smaller neighbourhood roads could be owned in common by a community or a local Dispute Resolution Organisation or private protection agency.

In the free society, there may not be a market of roads, in the strict sense. There might not be rival M1's or M6's. Nonetheless, different modes of transport would be in competition with each other. So rain services would seek to maintain high standards, so they don't lose customers to bus companies for example.