[Flames0910]

Originally Posted by GGG

Are you sure that the gas taxes don’t cover road budgets in Canada? I’ve heard this before but never seen it mathed out

100% sure.

I don't know who Patrick Johnstone is, but his blog came up when I did a quick Google. His math ends with $146 per driver per year, of which $20 actually goes to roads. https://www.patrickjohnstone.ca/2014...for-roads.html

Of note as well he cites just 1% of the national gas tax fund going to active transportation projects.

This is an interesting, and I think important point.

Every dollar not spent on gas is likely spent in other ways, and when spending on things (be they car things or non-car things) they provide revenue in the form of sales taxes and in income taxes of the people who are selling stuff. That is the nature of our economy. Through the magic of “General Revenue”, just as much of those taxes go to funding roads and bridges as the sales taxes on gasoline does. In this sense, the more you use the roads, the less you likely pay for your share of their use.

There was also a study in Ontario that found that tolls and vehicle registration fees factored pretty heavily into road funding. That said they did not account for externalities which significantly push the needle towards society rather than drivers: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...air-share.html

I seriously believed corporatejay believed the topic was about proposing that people in Tuscany pay for street parking, hence why he was in such a froth about it.

As an inner city resident who lives on a permit street, the hilarious thing is that Tuscany folks are still subsidized. I don't park on the street but the city provides me with guest passes so that people who visit me can park their car on the street. When the city removes that, I'll have to pay for that myself (or make all my friends pay for parking). So if corporatejay were to come to my place for a drink, instead of the city subsidizing his parking, it will be me.