AFTER THEY'VE TRIED EVERYTHING ELSE?

Motorists are beneficiaries of government services.  Let them bear the burden.

Wisconsin's roads are in parlous shape, which is an interesting reversal of the way things were thirty years ago, when Wisconsin rebuilt its main roads when they deteriorated to the state new Illinois roads were.  But Illinois jacked up its tolls, and the toll roads are in something resembling a state of good repair, although you're delayed as much by the rebuilding work as you are by the toll plazas.

And thus do the pundits continue to call for implementing tolling on Wisconsin's interstate highways. That's not going to be an easy proposition, particularly with high state officials suggesting the tolls be collected on inbound traffic at the border.  A Trump Moslem ban or a Walker Flatlander Toll: compare and contrast.

It's still not an easy proposition, although in seven years, nobody north of the Cheddar Curtain has come up with a better idea.

As Wisconsin’s Morning News host Vince Vitrano returned from dropping his daughter off at college in New York City, he began to think more about the idea of toll roads. Between Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, just one of those states doesn’t currently have a system of tolls on all or a portion of its freeways.

Hint: it’s Wisconsin.

Vince and Erik Bilstad spoke first with 101.7 The Truth’s Dr. Ken Harris on the subject this morning, who said the state is leaving millions in potential revenue on the table.

“The problem here is Democrats in Madison have never seen a tax they didn’t like.” Harris said Wednesday. “So my fear is we’ll get up to that 20 dollar point on day one, and that’s going to be a problem.”

Wisconsin’s Morning News spoke to fans on the matter as well, who expressed concern about Wisconsin residents paying more over the long haul versus those visiting from out of state, but also optimism that the funding from tolls could offset losses to the state’s gas tax as some drivers switch to electric vehicles.

While the state gas tax still accounts for roughly half of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s annual revenue, electric vehicles have been assessed a 100 dollar annual surcharge since 2018.

Roads are productive assets, they can even be sold to businesses to run as businesses.  That might make more sense than leaving the tolling authority in the hands of Madison politicians.  It might be that Democrats are notorious for raising taxes, and they only grudgingly come to the recognition that higher taxes push people away, if they concede that at all.

In the absence of sensible alternatives to the current patchwork of provision, perhaps there is opportunity for a consensus on tolls and parking charges.  "The roads are productive assets and perhaps the environmentalist wing of the self-styled party of science might be able to find common cause with libertarian-minded transportation advocates."