Hijexx wrote:

flynn23 wrote:

This is a real issue. Those taxes fund roads and the state DOTs. I would expect as fuel technologies advance, we'll see tax laws adapt. It would be great if Congress got in front of this like they did with e-commerce and put in a moratorium for a good bit of time. In fact, I'd go so far as to wish for some of the existing gasoline tax be diverted into alternative fuel R&D budgets. You could probably double the current funding with about 1% of the current tax being diverted. I'm just guessing tho.

I see a future where the roads are run by the private sector and billed to the consumers directly. As that occurs, fuel taxes will become less relevant to covering road costs. There will still be rural roads that local municipalities have to deal with, places where a private company won't go (think USPS vs. UPS.) So there will probably always be a fuel tax or subsidy of some sort to cover those cases.

I'm not a proponent of road privatization, I just see it in the cards. Look at what's happening with Cintra-Zachary and the TTC. I see that as the blueprint for things to come.

I would disagree. That would open the door to competition, and if you've been paying attention for the last 10 years, competition in the marketplace, particularly when it comes to low level infrastructure services (see telecom, power, water, gas, etc) are monopoly owned and consolidating at an alarming rate. Shareholders are driving this bus, and it's headed to less competition-ville.

Another way to look at it is that the DOT at the Federal level is one of the biggest departments in government. Only dwarfed by Defense and HHS. I doubt you'll be able to dismantle that bureaucracy within our lifetimes. The fact that DHS was built the way it was, under this administration, gives you a good clue as to the viability of the private sector taking over anything of that magnitude.

RE: State makes big fuss over local couple's vegetable oil car fuel