The Privatization of Roads and Highways - Ludwig von Mises Institute

Aiding and Abetting Road Socialism 395
It’s the question that’s taking Washington, D.C. by storm (well,
at least a little corner of D.C.): should tolls authorized to support
new congestion-relief lanes (such as HOT lanes or Rep.
Mark Kennedy’s FAST Lanes) be temporary or permanent? The
Joint Economic Committee held a briefing session for congressional
staffers on this question last month (June 27) and I was
one of three panelists. I made the case that such tolls should be
seen as a long-term, permanent measure, both for replacement
and expansion of the lanes and to preserve the powerful benefits
of market pricing for congestion management. 33
One problem with this answer is that it further indicates there
is no level of minutia of government highway operation from
which Poole will restrain his involvement. Let no one attack the
analogy of restaurant tablecloths mentioned above as excessive.
Another is that he does not seem to realize that these fees are
akin to taxes, 34 in that they swell the coffers of government, and
thereby reduce command over goods and services enjoyed by the
people. Even a libertarian advocate of limited government would
have to acquiesce in the notion that at present, the state spends
far more than the optimal amount of the wealth of the citizenry.
If so, then any program that further enhances their spending
power is to be rejected, not supported.
States Rothbard on this issue:
Taxes, and the tax bite into their earnings, keep going up, on the
federal, state, county and local levels of government. Semantic
disguises don’t work any more: call them “fees,” or “contributions,”
or “insurance premiums,” they are taxes nevertheless,
and they are increasingly draining the people’s substance. 35
33June 2003: www.rppi.org/surfacetransportation10.html
34They do not resemble taxes, but rather payments for services in private
markets, in that road use is a choice; no one is coerced into driving. However,
with the state monopolizing the roads, the degree of free choice is less
than it would otherwise be.
35Murray N. Rothbard, Making Economic Sense (Auburn, Ala.: Ludwig
von Mises Institute, 1995), p. 16.