[pp.int.general] Big Brother in NL?

[Stephane Bakhos]

>>  It is easy to measure traffic on a road without tracking anyone.  But
>>  there's no need to measure traffic merely for the sake of maintaining
>>  roads.  You can simply resurface each road when it needs resurfacing.
> I was not clear, apparently. A traveling salesman driving 100000 miles/year 
> causes a lot more wear and tear to a road than an old widow driving just 1000 
> miles per year. So wouldn't it be just to let the salesman pay more than the 
> poor old widow?
>
> I must admit that in the newspaper over the past days in this country the 
> argument was made that tome people have to drive many miles because they are 
> in a disfavourable position (e.g. simply people working in offices travel 
> more than pensioners). Wouldnt' it be a matter of justice to let the above 
> widow subsidise the workers? (My opinion is that any subsidies should be paid 
> directly - which is better directed: the salesman could pay more than somone 
> comuting to a hospital far away because a family member is there).

The widow driving just 1000 miles per year will use much less fuel then 
the salesman driving 100000 miles/year.

Here in Montreal fuel is retailing at about 1.05$/liter right now.
There is 0.393$ of this is various excise taxes, and the sales taxes over 
it. This represents a federal revenue of $5 billion in excise tax and $1.6 
billion in GST tax. The provincial governments collectively collect $8 
billion.

This does mean that the travalling salesmen will contribute more to it 
then the widow, which is how it should work.

In NL (according to Wikipedia) fuel tax account for 68.84% of the price of 
petrol. Out of it, only a small portion actually goes to road work (about 
0.19E per liter of gasoline).