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Letter: Gas tax is best way to pay for roads

Your Feb. 23 article on the proposed gas tax missed a larger point on the gas tax: The gas tax is the most responsible way to pay for roads.

For road funding you have only three choices, to subsidize our roads from taxes in other areas like income tax, to pay tolls, or pay at the pump.

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Subsidizing our roads through other taxes is how we've done it in the past and this method has lead to over-sized vehicles which guzzle gas and suburban sprawl. Paying through tolls means drivers will need to stop to pay tolls, or pay through EZ pass. All methods for toll roads require the state to spend extra money on administering the tolls and extra on equipment, and the EZ pass system requires residents to pay extra for the service. Only the gas tax collects the funds needed to fund our roads without any extra administration costs or infrastructure costs.

The gas tax will place the costs of transportation squarely on those who use the transportation. And finally the gas tax will encourage fuel efficient vehicles and discourage suburban sprawl.

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In the end, the gas tax will be better for the environment, will reduce our dependency on foreign oil, and will make our society more efficient. In every rational way the gas tax is the best way to collect transportation revenue.

The only reason not to do is on a gut level, folks just want cheap gas. But cheap gas in exchange for a less efficiency, more pollution, and more dependence on foreign oil is a bad bargain.

David Hendrickson

Ellicott City

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