The crime of it all is after all the bluster about taxes and tolls and political infighting, our political system continues to drift towards a super in-efficient method of paying for things -- metered user fees.

You know on reason why the internet is so cheap effective? It's largely unmetered. Which ENCOURAGES usage, which further drives the pricing down.

Metering is a MASSIVE cost center -- and then you add bill printing/presentment, bill collections, audits, the inevitable court case over some mis-calculated bill, and you have a super *inefficient* way of paying for things. BUT --- it cannot be assailed along the currently most effective method of sowing political discord -- convincing people they should never, ever pay for anything that benefits another person.

So as a result, we are trending towards an increasingly EXPENSIVE method of funding all manner of things, with far more infrastructure/oversight to manage all this muddle. But at least those who never drive that particular stretch of road won't be able to bitch about it. Of course we all pay 2x as much for all the stuff we *do* use, but that's the cross we're willing to bear I guess.

FWIW -- I do recognize the other extreme is likely to fail as well, but my sense is we're FAR too willing to accept user fees for things (even to advocate them) versus doing the hard work to keep things trim and efficient.